


We'll Make It Eventually

by Arbit



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Aged Up, Alternate Universe, F/M, Shameless Shipping, no sburb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-09
Updated: 2012-11-09
Packaged: 2017-11-18 07:51:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 48,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/558601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arbit/pseuds/Arbit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU Setting: No Sburb/they live within driving distance/guardians are still alive</p>
<p>Jane likes Jake, but so does Dirk. Dirk tells Jane and then asks her for help and, as a good friend, she says yes. They end up spending a lot of time together.</p>
<p>((Only for those who are in it for the long haul, because this is rather lengthy.))</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. What are friends for?

**Author's Note:**

> Since this is a roleplay between Taylor and me, it’s not exactly a work of art. We are also hopeless shippers and it’s very obvious in our writing. However, it would be a shame to not share the DirkJane love with everyone else. Many apologies for any OOC moments.
> 
> I wrote as Dirk and Jane is written by Taylor.

All right. It was time to do something. Obviously laying back on your bed mooning over the guy wasn’t going to get anything done, and if there was one thing Dirk liked to do it was to get shit done. Still, it wasn’t really something that he wanted to jump into without some back up. Normally, he’d pester Roxy, but she tended to get a little too involved and subtlety wasn’t quite her game. Dirk wanted to pull this off like a smooth criminal, and there was definitely someone he knew with enough class to help him out.

Sitting down at his desk, Dirk let out a long breath and prepared to ask one of his best friends to help him out.

———

TT: So, Jane. There’s something I would like to discuss with you.

TT: And hopefully even gain your aid in a personal endeavor.

GG: Hello, Strider!

GG: Oh, wait, YOU are asking ME for help?

GG: What a stunning twist of events! The viewers at home did not expect this. >:B

TT: Our audience is blowing up with this staggering, new development. They are all ashamed that their delicate nitpicking of our relationship never foresaw this radical turnabout.

TT: As they fumble for a new grasp on this unforeseen event, our audience eagerly awaits where this turn in our story will take us.

GG: What sort of a show are we, anyway?

GG: Certainly not a soap opera.

TT: With those outdated antics of yours, I would say our relationship hovers closely over the title of an old comedy, where your pranks could finally find a suitable environment.

GG: There is no such thing as an unsuitable environment for my amazing feats of practical prankery!

GG: But back to the matter at hand, lest we get carried away- what can I help you with?

TT: Yes. Of course.

TT: I can only avoid the topic for so long and I guess it would be best to simply dive in with the confidence of an Olympian.

TT: Which is to say, I’m approaching you for romantic advice.

GG: !!!

GG: Ooh la la, what lucky gal (or man!) has attracted your eye, Dirk?

TT: It appears that the man I have laid my eyes on, is someone we both know very well, actually. Another reason why I have come to you with this shit confession.

TT: His obliviousness is something to be noted in the record books, not to mention his isolated lifestyle.

TT: In case it wasn’t obvious, I’m speaking of none other than Jake English.

GG: Oh.

GG: Haha!!! No, that was obvious alright!!!!!!

GG: Awesome! Wow! That’s great, cool!!!

TT: Yes. Well, I’m glad you’re supportive and willing to hear me out, because this shit has been bogging me down for a while.

TT: And I’ve come to you, since you have a good standing with him and I’d be forever indebted to you if you would help me in winning the heart of our good friend.

GG: Of COURSE!

GG: That’s what best friends are for, right?

GG: Just this sort of thing!!!!

TT: Are you alright, though? I mean, I did sort of spring this on you without even the most minor of hints and your exclamatory punctuation has increased noticeably.

GG: I’m totally fine!

GG: Humans change stuff up all the time, I’m no robot!

GG: Look, I can be COMPLETELY UNRPREDICTABLE!!!!

GG: i can type with no capitalization or punctuation

GG: I CAN TYPE IN ALL CAPS!!!!!

GG: See everything is just SWELL Dirk.

GG: Now LET’S GET DOWN TO BUSINESS.

TT: If you say so, I guess.

TT: As for our “business,” I would appreciate it if you could do a little investigating for me.

TT: Put on that dusty old fedora you have and become the detective you’ve always wanted.

TT: The detective that my distressed dame self has come to hire to put on a case.

TT: Unfortunately, my case has more to do with the emotional whims of an adventurous man and not the inscrutable murders that you dream of.

TT: My apologies on that front.

GG: Oh, don’t at all be sorry!

GG: Not everything can go my way, and even if it could, I’d hardly want to know you had to suffer the awful emotional price of murder.

GG: But why me? I mean, I’m not a Romantic Rhonda or anything.

TT: Perhaps not, but you’re also way more gifted in the art of subtlety.

TT: I’m afraid that our booze babe friend would end up spilling the beans before the time was right.

TT: Also, there’s a project I want to do and I’m afraid I don’t require the skill set to complete it.

GG: A project?

GG: So you already have a plan of action!!!

GG: AWESOME!

GG: You must have been thinking about this for quite some time, Dirk!!!

TT: Yes. Actually, I have.

TT: I’m afraid I’ve been hiding this infatuation of mine underneath a well-guarded rock.

TT: A rock that has finally been overturned and revealed to the world. And by world, just one person, but it’s a start I guess.

TT: I’m sorry if this confession is shocking to you. I hope it didn’t leave a rusty wrench in our friendship or anything.

GG: What?!

GG: That is absurd! Of COURSE not!

GG: Why would you even think that? What the heck would I even own a rusty wrench FOR? Surely not THIS!!!

GG: In order for it to be any kind of a problem WHICH IT IS NOT AT ALL, I’d have to like Jake, right????

GG: HOO HOO!!!!! Just the THOUGHT makes me laugh.

TT: My bad, a rusty spoon, perhaps? Since utensils seem to be more your area of expertise.

TT: In reality, it would probably be me with the rusty wrench. Well that sure plants a new perspective on that metaphor.

TT: Yes, it’s rather quite fortunate. How could I even hope to snag a chance with Jake if you were my competition?

GG: Trust me, you’d have already done much better than me.

GG: Anyway, what is it that you need from me?

TT: Well, this is actually the more embarrassing part.

TT: I sort of wish to create a robot that will make cupcakes. And since my culinary skills are all but nonexistent, I dare not program the robot without the advising of an expert.

TT: Luckily, one of my friends is a baking heiress.

TT: So, this is me, Dirk, requesting that you teach me how to bake.

TT:If you would be so kind.

GG: Oh!!!!

GG: Well, wow, okay. It’s not hard at all.

GG: It’s lots of math, actually! You should be good at it.

GG: Or decent.

GG: …

GG: You probably won’t burn anything.

TT: Hopefully with you as my mentor my chances of igniting concoctions will significantly decrease.

TT: Also, it would help if you could ask what kind of pastries Jake likes. Since such a question from me would be very out of character.

TT: In any case, would it be all right to plan a visit to your place of residence?

GG: Pumpkin spice and red velvet.

GG: Those are his favorites, I mean.

GG: If you’d like, you can come over tomorrow night.

TT: Oh, well it’s good you know that. Thanks.

TT: Really? That would be great.

TT: What time?

GG: Well, we’ll be having dinner at five, so come hungry.

TT: You’re inviting me to have dinner at your place?

TT: Not that I’m saying that in a bad way, I’m just surprised, I guess.

GG: Well, I know your brother doesn’t come home very often.

GG: And Dad likes you well enough.

GG: So, yeah, why not? :B

TT: Yes, that is indeed a true fact of my life.

TT: Why not, indeed.

TT: I’ll see you tomorrow, then.

TT: Thank you, by the way.

TT: You’re really a stupendous friend for dealing with my shit.

TT: I’m just a stupid animal hanging at the zoo and you’re my caretaker dutifully shoveling up my feces after me when you could be doing a much more pleasant and fulfilling job.

GG: Hoo hoo!

GG: See you tomorrow, Dirk!

GG: I’m going to head to bed.

TT: Have pleasant dreams, then.

TT: Night, Jane.

———

Dirk signed out of pesterchum after that and leaned back in his chair, exhaling loudly and placing his hands behind his head. It really was a relief to get his feelings off his chest. Although the weight of having a crush was still there, it felt nice that he wasn’t completely alone on his crusade anymore.

Turning off his computer, Dirk decided it was time to get into bed, as well. A night of cooking awaited him tomorrow and he really couldn’t help but be a little excited about the idea. Not to mention it was always fun hanging out with Jane. It had been a while since the two of them had hung out, what with Jane’s University life.

Dirk was practically free all of the time. The only things keeping him sane were his various projects that he took up randomly. Stripping to his boxers, Dirk simply flopped onto his bed and wondered if sleep would reach him tonight.

Jane was distraught to say the least.

She had to really work hard to keep her emotions in check all that night she’d been talking with him. She had herself a good, hard cry in a hot shower before bed, and sniffled it out over hot cocoa with her father as though she were fifteen again, and she felt marginally better in the morning. Typical stuff, she supposed, for her age, but she really wished she didn’t have such rotten luck. She’d adored Jake for such a long time now; she had just never given in to advancing, and now she completely regretted it.

She had no one to blame but herself, though, and as she bustled about the kitchen helping her father with dinner and watching the clock, she had to admit that she was a tiny bit excited through her nausea at Dirk’s coming over. It was fun to spend time with him, he wasn’t a chore to look after like Roxy, or too high-energy like Jake, and if she ignored the ache in her chest that came from having to think about why he was there learning to bake with her, well, it might be a somewhat decent night after all.

“Okay, Dad, I think I’m going to go upstairs and change out of cook clothes for Dirk.”

“Alright.”

And that was that, she was upstairs selecting jeans and a button-down shirt for the evening, sort of wrinkling her nose up as she measured her body in the mirror. Like most girls her age, Jane did not feel incredibly confident in her physical appearance. Being the Heiress to a baking company gave a girl a bit of … well, weight to her torso, frankly. She wasn’t small and lithe like Roxy, and she always had a problem with that.

She gave an angry pinch to her small muffin-top and marched down the stairs, determined not to think about that as she heard the clock in the hall chime five.

When the sun poked it’s way through the window, Dirk finally sat up. He’d literally just lain there the whole night, since sleep had decided once more that Dirk was undeserving of its presence. It had been a long time since Dirk had had a good night’s rest, and yet he forced himself to lay in his bed every night, no matter how bored he found himself getting.

Sleepless nights were the norm for his childhood, but it had gotten worse as he had gotten older. Then, one day Dirk lost his childhood toy (Dirk would call it his old friend) and sleep had left him altogether. At first Dirk had simply worked his way through the nights, but found that doing so would muck up his health something awful and so had turned to the ritual of laying still.

And, of course, he told no one.

It was daytime now, though, and he needed some way to pass the time ‘til three rolled around, at which point he could take one of his hour long showers. In the end, he did what he always did. Sat himself down in his study and began to plan out his next project. Which this time was Jake’s Bake-o-Matic. Obviously, a better name would be needed, but for now it would do.

Eventually, three rolled around and Dirk eagerly placed himself in his shower and relaxed in the steady stream of hot water. Afterwards, he stood in front of his closet for a while, unsure of what exactly to wear. Dirk didn’t quite go out much and he wasn’t sure what to wear. After a while, he settled on his usual black jeans and a white button up, which he rolled the sleeves up to his elbows.

From there it was only a short drive to Jane’s pleasant suburban house. Glancing at his car’s clock, he found that it was 4:52 and simply sat in his car for the next seven minutes. A tiny bit strange, Dirk admitted to himself, but he liked being punctual. At 4:59, Dirk walked up to Jane’s door and heard a clock chiming. He gave a small huff of a laugh at his timing before knocking on the door.

“Golly, I’m glad nothing came up! He’s really prompt.” She muttered to herself, as she hurried down the last few steps of the stairs and ran to the door, pulling it open only after composing herself a bit.

She put on her biggest, sweetest smile, even though there was a tight clench on her heart as she remembered why he was here and everything that had happened the night prior. She was going to be fine. Things would be okay, no matter what- all she really wanted was happiness for her friends, so, if that meant…this…then so be it.

“Dirk! Glad you could make it, come on in.” She stepped back and held the door open for him, waiting for him to get inside so that she could properly hug him in greeting.

Dirk rocked back and forth on his heels for the few seconds he was waiting for someone to answer the door, but straightened up the second the door began to open. When he saw that Jane had answered the door, Dirk couldn’t keep himself from grinning back at her. Man, it was good to see her again. “More than glad to be here,” he replied to her greeting.

Stepping through Jane’s doorway, Dirk waited for her to close the door behind him before extending his arms for a hug. “How’s my gal doing? Smells good in here.”

Jane walked right into his embrace, wrapping her arms tight around his neck and giving a little squeeze. He was warm and solid and well-built, and she always felt a remarkable amount of _safeness_ in his arms, even if she didn’t need protecting or rescuing.

She felt a little warmth spread through her when he complimented her, when he affectionately addressed her, and she pulled away to nod enthusiastically and motion toward the dining room. “Dad and I prepared extra, I really hope you’re starving, because I have no idea how we’re supposed to finish all this ourselves!”

Dirk had to stoop a little to let Jane get her arms around his neck and get his own arms under her own. Jane had always been the shorty of the group, but it didn’t bother Dirk at all. In fact, he looked forward to her hugs the most. Jake and Roxy were all limbs, but Jane had more pliability and he’d always find himself at ease when he hugged her. It helped that she smelled a bit like the pastries she and her dad baked all of the time.

Letting her go, Dirk pulled back and followed her towards the dining room. He’d been to her house before, of course, but usually with the company of another friend of their’s. “Don’t worry about that, I’m plenty hungry and if there are any leftovers I’d be more than obliged to take some off your hands.”

Had he even eaten today? Thinking about it, Dirk decided he must have eaten a few oranges, but otherwise a meal didn’t come to mind. Actual proper meals weren’t quite part of his lifestyle.

“I don’t think Dad would have it any other way!” She informed him with a laugh, as she gestured to a seat beside her own, with her father at the head of the table. “Take a seat, Dad’ll be bringing out the rest in a moment.”

And upon the table was a small feast. A large glazed chicken (already sort of carved by her father), mashed potatoes, vegetables, the works. Jane had been a little preoccupied, and being in the kitchen with her Dad soothed her, so they started a little earlier than they had planned and ended up making a good deal more than they had even planned to.

“Wow, Jane. This really is the best fucking dinner I’ve seen.” Taking in the sight of all of the food on the table, Dirk couldn’t stop his mouth from watering. He really hadn’t realized how hungry he was, the emptiness in his stomach finally brought to his attention.

Instead of sitting down right away, Dirk pulled out the chair he assumed was to be Jane’s and bowed a little. “After you, miss.”

Jane’s brows shot up in feigned surprise. Dirk was always a pretty legit gentleman, even if he seemed like an aloof asshole all the time. He never hesitated to do what felt right in the moment, she thought; sometimes she liked to open her own doors, and sometimes she preferred that others open them for her, and not once had he ever read her wrong. She guessed that was just how close they were as friends.

“I really hope you like it, Dad’s pretty proud.” she admitted, sitting down and scooting herself in, folding her napkin in her lap as she waited for her guardian to come join them.

He has every right to be,” Dirk replied, finally making his way to his own seat. “This is meal is a genuine work of art. The Mona Lisa can go take a hike in the Sahara.”

Sitting down, Dirk decided to follow Jane’s lead and placed his own napkin in his lap.

Dinner went by and did well to ease Jane’s achy heart. There was a lot of laughter and plenty of good, quality conversation, and only a couple slip-ups from Dirk, who had to remember to watch his mouth around Dad Crocker.

Jane was quick to tell her Dad that she’d do the dishes after they finished baking, and he agreed, saying he was upstairs in the study if anything was needed. He kissed her head, bade her goodnight, and gave Dirk a good, firm handshake before heading off.

“Well!” Jane smiled, clapping her hands together enthusiastically as she stood in the middle of her (rather enormous) kitchen. “Shall we, then?” she reached over to a peg on the wall, and pulled off two aprons of three; one was her Dad’s, a classic ‘KISS THE COOK’, one was her own, blue and white with cupcakes plastered all over it and the Crocker logo embroidered on a large kangaroo-like pouch in front, and the final one was obviously a ‘guest apron’, done up in red and white plaid.

Dirk waited while Jane spoke with her dad, relishing in the feeling of being full. There really wasn’t a lot that could match up with a home-cooked meal. His thoughts wandered off from him for a moment as he tried to remember when he’d last had a meal quite like this, but was quickly snapped out of it when Jane clapped her hands together.

Seeing the aprons in her hands, Dirk gave a smile and joked, “Why, Jane, how did you know I look absolutely dashing in a cupcake pattern?”

But when he came up to her he took the one he knew was meant for him, slipping the plaid apron over his head. Tying it behind his back, Dirk placed his hands on his hips and posed a little. “How do I look?”

Jane had to admit that she laughed quite a deal whenever they were together. Well, not that it was hard- but each of her friends had different ways of pulling giggles from her, which inevitably evolved into something more true (‘hoo hoo!’) whenever they went further than necessary. She was doing a fair bit of giggling already, as Dirk posed and she put on a playfully admiring look.

“Absolutely _stunning_. You should be a model, Dirk, really.”

“God, I knew it,” Dirk sighed, increasing the over dramaticism by leaning his head back in fake exasperation. “My true calling, Jane. I always knew I was beautiful.”

Grinning, Dirk just smiled down at Jane before jerking his head in the direction of the kitchen. “All right, enough goofing around, Jane. Some of us actually wanna get shit done.”

Jane continued to laugh, and good-naturedly punched his shoulder gently, as she escorted him further into her kitchen and began to pull materials out that they would need, only pausing to look at him occasionally.

“Right, so what flavor is your favorite? … Don’t give me that look, I know orange, but is there anything _else_? Since these aren’t specifically for, er, any purpose…but demonstration.”

Dirk grabbed at his shoulder and mouthed “ow” at her, but a smile was evident the whole time. Following after her obediently, watching carefully and mentally memorizing what items Jane pulled out. He carefully hovered over her shoulder, moving agilely out of the way when needed.

At her question, Dirk tilted his head for a second, ignoring the little bit of sass she gave him. “How ‘bout Carrot Cake?” he asked.

“Carrot cake.” she blinked a few times, and then smiled. “That’s one of my favorites!” she stayed still only long enough to fish out a recipe book and flip the pages, vaguely gesturing to him as she handed it over.

“I know the recipe by heart, I know most of them by heart really, but you’ll want to see the math of it all. I’m just going to gather the measurements of everything we need, and then we’ll stand about and I’ll show you how it’s done.” she tittered, a she floated around her kitchen and gathered measuring cups full of flour, sugar, and other necessary staples of cake.

Dirk couldn’t help feeling his mood improve just from watching Jane in the act of doing something she was so enthusiastic about. Accepting the book from her, he scanned over the recipe, looking at the different measurements for each ingredient. Curious about what was on the other pages, Dirk flipped through a few pages.

As Dirk looked at various instructions, he noted the mathematics of cooking as Jane had told him. Looking up at Jane, he watched her for a few seconds, her movements making it evident that she could traverse her kitchen with her eyes closed. “Do you think you could send me a few recipes, perhaps?”

“Recipes? Oh, sure! Of course.” Jane’s hands worked smoothly, the whole thing was an art, it seemed. A graceful dance through cupboards and drawers, cabinets and fridge shelves to get the things she needed, conducted as patiently and easily as a ballet.

When she was through, she stood before the counter with everything very neatly aligned in what appeared to be no order whatsoever.

“Ready to get started?”

Dirk simply nodded in response, caught up a bit in watching Jane engrossed in her work. It was always a moving experience to observe someone in the midst of doing something that they love. Something they could do with their eyes closed. When Jake took him adventuring, or Roxy was hacking into the newest security system. Their demeanors simply just changed.

Sometimes Dirk wondered when he gained that expression. Although he decided that it didn’t really matter since he would never see the expression himself.

When Jane finally finished gathering everything and turned her attention back to him, he gave her a small lilt of a smile. “As ready as ever,” he replied, moving closer. “Teach this poor, young paddawan.”

“Right!”

It was so straightforward. Just a lot of pouring and mixing at the proper times, explaining only a tiny bit of the simple science behind why you had to stir after every egg added, and what ingredients were okay to splurge on when it came to less-or-more. They had finally gotten everything into one bowl, and she handed over a Betty Crocker brand mixing spoon, smiling at him with confidence.

“Ready to try your hand at mixing? Clockwise seventeen stirs, and then counterclockwise until there are no lumps in the batter at all.”

Dirk pursed his lips more so than usual as Jane explained to him the basics of baking. Occasionally asking a question or two, but for the most part staying silent and committing things to memory.

At the offering of the spoon, Dirk tentatively accepted it, holding it the way he would one of his many wrenches. That is to say, a bit incorrectly.

“Is it really that necessary to do everything down to a science?” he asked, while doing as Jane had instructed, mentally counting the number of stirs he made. “Didn’t Ratatouille make a big deal about how cooking could be done through your heart or some shit?”

“And here I thought you’d be excited that it was so precise.” she smirked, setting paper cupcake liners into the tin as he stirred. “While baking does require heart- because you have to love what you’re making or else it doesn’t taste right- it’s just as much a science.”

She reached out and angled his arm right, fixing his fingers and patting his cheek when he was holding everything correctly again, gesturing for him to keep stirring. “The mixing bit is so concrete because of the way things get mixed in, and how thoroughly they get in.”

“Hey, I’m just trying to cover all of my bases. Can’t just leave a diamond unprotected for some fucker to get a free safe.”

Dirk allowed himself to be manipulated for the moment, but gave an indignant exhale of air when she patted his cheek. “Yeah yeah. I got it, Crocker,” he muttered, showing her the edge of a grin to show he wasn’t to be taken seriously.

He continued his stirring, going after chunks that would show themselves and watching the mix slowly turn into the smooth batter it was supposed to be.

When all was said and done, the entire experience had been sublime.

The two bonded, shared quite a few laughs over the pouring of the batter into the cups, Jane being quite precise in how full each cup was, and she hoped to god he had learned at least a little from the evening. Passing the time by watching crappy weeknight television while the cupcakes were in the oven, they made fun of bad fashion and Jane was humiliated in a round of Jeopardy where ‘pop culture’ counted double.

When they were cooled and iced (making the icing had been significantly less complicated in this case, just cream cheese, powdered sugar, and a few extras), Jane held one out to him with a big smile.

“The fruits of our labor-” she paused, “Er, I guess vegetables? Since the carrots…oh, whatever! Enjoy, Strider, you’ve earned it.”

Dirk felt like he hadn’t laughed and smiled this much in a while. Truly being around his friends brought out the best in him and he would do his best not to forget that. Wiping a few icing bits from his fingers, Dirk accepted the offered cupcake from Jane and chuckled at her words. “Cheers to that,” he was his only response, though, and Dirk raised his cupcake in a mock toast before taking a bite.

Not really a connoisseur of foods, Dirk simply knew enough to know that the finished product was at least edible and tasted pretty good, to bat. “Tastes pretty good to me, but what does the pastry queen think?” he asked.

While waiting for an answer, Dirk unceremoniously shoved the rest of the cupcake in his mouth before grabbing a paper towel to wipe off a counter where he had accidentally dripped some batter. “Better help you clean up.”

“It’s _perfect_ , you’ve done wonderfully.” Jane praised, as she bit into her own cupcake and licked her lips in quite a pleased manner. She took a few more, careful bites to finish her own cake, and then shooed his hands away from the counter lightly.

“You don’t need to help, you’re a guest, it’s rude to make you clean.” she tutted, as she took over wiping the counter down entirely and starting the water to wash the dirty dishes they’d used.

He backed off when Jane waved him away from the counter, but gave an indignant huff when she said he didn’t need to help. “But we’re also friends and friends help each other out,” he argued, gathering up a few dishes and placing them in the sink. “Besides, I’d feel like a tool just watching you do all of the work.”

“Dirk, no offence, but I thought we established long ago that you are a tool.” she smirked, busy looking down to wash the dishes, but her expression was audible in her words.

“What? Oh, ouch, Jane, that’s hurtful,” he replied dramatically, and even though she couldn’t see him, Dirk placed a hand over his heart.

He stepped forward and reached a hand into the sink and grabbed a dirty bowl and tried to get her to let him to take over by nudging him with his hip. “At least let me take care of the dishes, since you’re the one who has to put away everything. Fuck if I know where everything goes.”

“Hm. Well, okay. That I can concede to, I guess.” Jane grinned, rinsing her hands of suds and then shaking them out- at his face, funny enough.

She scurried backward to fetch a dry towel before he could retaliate in kind if he so chose, and then she went to drying the dishes as he washed them.

As flecks of water splashed across his shades, Dirk simply pursed his lips and gave a sigh. “Why thank you, Jane, I needed to clean my glasses, anyway. Perhaps, I’ll return the favor later.”

While she grabbed a towel, Dirk took a moment to take off his triangular lenses and wipe them dry before quickly putting them back. Their purpose was always explained to others as some sort of long winded ironic joke to carry on from his brother, but they also served the purpose of hiding the tired lines that came from never sleeping.

When Jane rejoined him he playfully touched a wet hand to her cheek. “Sorry, your face was dirty,” he said smugly, a half grin on his face.

Turning back to the dishes, Dirk continued his job of washing. “By the way, would you mind helping me grab ingredients and baking tools tomorrow?” he asked. “Well, I mean, it doesn’t have to be tomorrow. I’m pretty much free all the time. Whenever’s best for you.”

Jane gave an indignant huff of her own, and wiped her cheek, though she was smiling. She set to putting dishes away once they were dry enough, and listened to him idly.

“Oh! Sure, of course. I’m free tomorrow. I don’t really have much to do this summer, Dad just wants me to be home occasionally since the housing near University is so far away.” she heaved a sigh. “It’s really getting kind of sad, how lonely he seems without me living here anymore.”

Dirk simply nodded, cleaning up the last bowl. “I can imagine… This is a pretty nice fucking house for him to be living in all alone. Maybe the old man needs a girlfriend or something, huh?” he paused to grin. “I hear ol’ Rox fancies your dad.”

He hands the last dish off to her before turning off the water and wiping his hands off.

Jane made a horrible face of disgust and shoved him lightly, “Ewwwwww! Gosh, no,” she blanched.

After cleanup was over, they lingered about the kitchen and made small-talk over the dumbest things. It was not until the clock in the hall upstairs chimed midnight that Jane realized she had him over quite a bit longer than her Dad had wanted.

“Oh, Dirk, I’m sorry I kept you so long!” she fretted, as she stood in the doorway, holding it open for him as he left. “I’ll come by tomorrow- you said, erm, two?”

“It’s really no problem, Crocker. I don’t do shit at home, anyway,” he said, trying to get her to stop worrying. “You’ve really just done me a super awesome favor.”

“Yeah, two sounds good,” Dirk agreed. “Just buzz me and I’ll let you in. I’m in the top floor and the elevator opens up into my flat.”

This time, he just went straight for the hug, his arms going over her shoulders, so that her head made contact with his chest. Being almost a foot taller than her meant that he still had to lean over a bit so that his jaw could rest on Jane’s head lightly. “Seriously. Thanks for having me over and teaching me how to bake delicious shit.”

The warmth and comfort Dirk’s arms provided her did not ever compare to anyone else’s. It wasn’t as promising as Dad’s, but she didn’t want to associate him with Dad, anyway. It wasn’t sweet and cherishing like Roxy’s hold, or possessive and enthusiastic like Jake’s. Dirk had something in his embraces that she loved, and wrapping her arms around his middle, she took a slow, deep breath, feeling calm wash over her. He smelled like so many good things; sugary frosting, citrus from what she could only guess was his body product, and something musky and strong and so very much _Dirk_. She couldn’t get enough of his hugs! He was, truly, the best friend she had.

“Of course. Any time, Dirk, really, I love having you around, and I love baking. So this was one of the best ideas!” her words were a little muffled, so enveloped by him, but she trusted he could hear her anyway. She could hear him, with one ear pressed tightly against his chest to hear the staccato rhythm of his heart and the deep almost-bass line of his voice, and it was soothing.

Despite how small Jane was in comparison to him, Dirk could feel the effect of the hug all through his body. Maybe it was her sweet scent, made that much more fragrant by their baking, or the very essence of the “home, sweet home” essence that she always seemed to carry with her. Either way, it made him feel less tense and for a second, his eyelids drooped.

At her words, Dirk raised a hand to the back of her head and gently pushed his fingers through her short hair to show that he felt the same. Giving a sigh, he finally pulled away, if just a bit reluctantly. “Seeya tomorrow, Jane. Have a good night’s rest.”

With that, he exited her home and made his way to his car, where he paused to wave at her before getting in. Already he could feel the effects of Jane’s embrace fading away.


	2. This is how friends normally hangout... right?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Platonically swimming in their underwear.

The night came, and Jane found sleep easy; she was tired out from baking and socializing and having feelings. It was only when she woke the next morning, that she remembered what Dirk was even there for last night, and her stomach sank.

Ignoring that as best she could, she lost herself in television and chores until it was time to leave for shopping with Dirk. It was a fairly quick trip, since Jane pretty much knew where everything would be, and despite their fooling around, things moved swiftly. She volunteered to come back to his place and help him unpack, and by the time they were through, it was four, but still quite bright out.

“Jeeze, the sun doesn’t seem to be letting up at all, does it?” She remarked, looking out the window over his kitchen sink and squinting.

It was yet another sleepless night for Dirk, but now he lay awake compiling what he had learned at Jane’s with his knowledge of robotics. It would be quite a feat to mix the two together, but he knew he’d figure something out. When morning came, he decided that he should probably take some time to clean up. Not that he was incredibly messy, but he had a lot of things piled up in places. The most noticeable thing, though, was all of the dust.

The penthouse was rather large for a single person, after all, and plenty of places he never visited. So, he wiped off all of the counters and cabinets. Hopefully he could keep her from looking in his cabinets, since dishes and silverware only came in fives. The empty pantry, however, would be unavoidable.

After their shopping adventure together, Dirk had led her into his apartment and together they found the best places to put away the purchases. Dirk was just closing the pantry door when Jane spoke.

“Hm? Oh yeah, it gets pretty fucking ridiculous sometimes,” he said, walking up behind her and peering through the window with her. “Up here above all the rest of the buildings I never get any shade.”

“Times like these that I go swimming. You remember my pool, don’t you?” It was a rhetorical question, there had been plenty of times during their high school summer days that the four of them had hung out on his rooftop.

“Speaking of which… Why don’t we go take a swim? I think I’ve had enough of this boring shit,” he smiled.

“Ah, swim?” Jane blinked a few times. It had been at least two and a half years since she’d done that with him! It would be lots of fun.

“Gosh, I wish I’d remembered to bring my swimsuit.” she frowned, chewing on her lip sort of idly. “I don’t suppose you have anything lying around I could borrow?”

“Yes, Jane, I have a few lady swimsuits just lying around, let me go fetch them,” he smirked. “Everybody knows underwear is pretty much the same thing as a bathing suit. And have you seen some bathing suits? Sometimes the underwear covers more.”

Jane gave a high laugh at his sarcasm, shoving him lightly and then turning to face him entirely when he suggested just going in her underwear. “Well, I guess so, just…I’ve never really felt…entirely comfortable in a two-piece. But, I do want to swim, and- well, we’re friends, you’ve probably seen me look worse.”

And she was certain he had. Stressed for finals in sweats with disheveled hair, no makeup, bags under her eyes- dark times, those were.

“That’s the spirit, I’ll wear my boxers if it makes you feel better,” he added. “Now come on, the pool awaits.”

Grinning, Dirk made a run for the stairwell that led to the roof so Jane didn’t have any time to possibly change her mind. Not wanting to leave Jane too far behind, though, Dirk stopped at the top of the stairwell and held the door open for her.

Jane puffed out her cheeks as she watched him go, and calmly fallowed, though tried her best to hurry. He was pretty persuasive, but then again, this heat wasn’t hindering his case, either.

“Okay, jeeze, someone’s excited.” she grinned, as she walked through the door he held open for her.

“Hey, I’m always up for a good swim,” he retorted, following after her.

Stopping at the edge of the pool, Dirk took one second to look around him, the city surrounding them. Then, with one last glance back at Jane, he started to strip. Pulling his shirt off over his head first, he tossed it far away from the pool’s edge so that it wouldn’t get splashed. Then, off came shoes and socks and eventually his shorts, which all went off to join his discarded shirt.

“Fuck it feels great to be free of clothes in this damned heat,” he said, stretching his arms a bit.

His muscles were all well-defined, a side effect of having nothing better to do and working out put his mind at ease. The freckles that were half hidden by the shades on his face could also be found on his back and shoulders. Well aware of the fit state of his body, Dirk didn’t want to make Jane self-conscious of her own body which, despite everybody’s kind words, affected her quite a bit. So, he didn’t linger, but quickly performed a dive, shades still on his face.

Sometimes Jane wondered if Dirk had ever installed some kind of microchip in everyone’s eyes.

It wasn’t because he was the creepy sort to do that (okay, maybe he was, but she wasn’t freaked out by him the way others might have been), but it was because he always looked so good that Jane swore he was real-life photoshop. The summer between eighth grade and high school had changed Dirk’s body considerably, and in Freshman year Jane and Roxy had called Dirk Mister Photoshop. He got quite a bit of attention for the way he looked, although he brushed it off constantly. He wasn’t exactly interested in people outside of his small social circle; the four of them were each other’s world, and that was how it always had been.

Jane found herself incredibly self-conscious even though she kept telling herself that he had seen her in worse states, that he knew what she looked like no matter how hard she tried to find clothes that flattered her figure. She pulled away her sundress, over her head, and toed off her shoes, standing in simple blue underwear. Nothing frilly, nothing fancy, just a tiny bow in the center of the matching set, and before she could stand still long enough to make him look up at her, she dove in after him.

Dirk had just come up for air when Jane hit the water and he gave a laugh as a bit of water splashed onto him. “Oh man, I forgot my damn shades,” he stated, mostly just to himself.

Swimming to the edge of the pool, Dirk pulled them off and placed them on the side before pushing off the edge on his back so he could float back towards Jane. Unlike his brother, he didn’t quite care about his strangely orange eyes, so there wasn’t any reason for him to go so far as to wear sunglasses while in the water. “How’s the water for you, Jane? Helping with the heat any?” he asked.

“A lot, yeah,” She sighed, as she ran her fingers through her hair and pushed the water from the bridge of her nose and the inside of her glasses- which, she too, seemed to forget entirely. She set them gently near Dirk’s and smiled over at him. “It’s always really nice up here. Remember when we used to watch the sunrise up here during sleepovers?” she fondly recalled the times she’d stayed up chatting with Dirk (who never seemed to actually sleep very much) well into morning, where one of them would inevitably nearly startle Jake or Roxy awake, and then they’d move to the roof and talk until sunrise, when Jane would start breakfast and then promptly nap.

It had become routine, and Jane was clearly missing the closeness.

A wave of nostalgia came over Dirk as fond memories were recalled. “Heh, yeah… We really should get the group all back together again,” he suggested. “Go and get dinner or something.”

Moving back into an upright position, Dirk pushed his wet hair back and grinned mischievously at her. “Do you also happen to remember the games we used to play together?” he asked, swimming closer towards her.

There had been the inevitable games of chicken and volleyball, but it was obvious as Dirk closed the distance between them that he was referring to more often games of simply trying to dunk someone’s head under.

Of course, Jane was going to remark about truth or dare and recall some more memories, when she finally caught onto what he was about to do, and her smile got wider and wider, even as she backed away. “Ohhhh no, no no no, you’re not getting me ever again! Once was enough!” and with that, she made her own attempt to reach up and dunk him; unfortunately, this was a miracle-shot, as she was already quite a bit shorter than him.

Seeing the realization creep into Jane’s expression simply made Dirk smile back, already anticipating the small struggles to maintain the upper hand. The part of the pool they were in was seven feet deep, so Jane managed to push him a little ways down, but with a few strong strokes, Dirk was able to combat the downward push. “Nice try, Crocker,” he grinned. “Now it’s my turn.”

He wrapped an arm around one of her sides and then swam to pull her closer towards the shallower parts of the pool. Once he could touch bottom, Dirk wrapped his other arm around her and pulled her close to him. Then, slowly pulled her down a little bit, not wanting to dunk her quickly, but give her a bit of a chance to escape.

Jane flailed and thrashed all she could, but she was laughing the whole time. She was too short to feel the bottom, even now, but she struggled to do so every chance she got.

“Nooooo, Dirk, nooo! Let go, let gooo!” she cried, but it was all in very good mirth, as she pushed at his chest and shoulders and tried to wriggle her arms out from being pinned under his. His body was warm and close and he was holding her, and even though she had so little control of what was happening to her, she felt completely safe. He’d never hurt her, never even accidentally, he was too careful, she trusted him too much, and if they weren’t playing a game she’d feel calm enough to drift off like that, in cool water with a hot breeze and Dirk close.

Dirk kept smiling and laughing as Jane splashed around, his eyes squinting as he tried to watch her carefully to make sure the water level would stay below her nose and mouth and to make sure she never showed any signs of being uncomfortable. And even though it was totally capable of him to dunk her under right then and there, Dirk just held onto her, only occasionally pulling her a little deeper.

In truth, he really just missed the physical contact of his friends, or anyone really. During the year that followed after high school, everyone had set off to look after their futures. Jane went to college, Jake went learning how to keep a business afloat and Roxy spent a lot of time learning the newest computer technology. As for him, he’d simply stuck around, worked occasionally at a mechanics, messed around with his own robotics and was debating over a different business entirely (of which he wasn’t entirely sure if he should try starting or not.) With all of that, Dirk had simply shut himself in his flat, speaking with the others mostly through pesterchum.

Eventually, Dirk decided that he’d held out on Jane long enough and warned her with a, “Down you go.” So that she’d know to take a breath and quickly pulled her under. The second she was submerged, Dirk let go, allowing her to come back up when she wanted. Then, he retreated to shallower parts so that Jane could get a bit of a fairer shot at pulling him under.

Jane was prepared indeed, and took a deep breath as she was shoved under for almost no amount of time. She resurfaced after a moment or two, and with a determined look on her face and a smirk intact, she hurried for him, but made a sharp turn instead.

She put both hands on the concrete and pushed her body up out of the water, standing and turning- diving /right/ at him, with both arms out and centered to his head. Yes, she was using this jump as leverage to both reach the top of his head as well as push him down under water.

Dirk watched Jane’s movements carefully, wondering what she was up to. Still, when she burst out of the water, he was unprepared and her blow made him fall forward. He managed to exclaim “Fucki-” before he was under the water.

Once under, he twisted and caught her in his arms again, his feet easily found the pool ground and he pushed himself back up to the surface. Gasping for breath, Dirk quickly shook his head, spraying water everywhere. Eyes still closed, he smiled, “That was a shit move there, Crocker.”

“HOO HOO!” she regaled, hair nearly hanging in her eyes as she clutched her stomach with one hand and kept afloat by holding onto the side of the pool with the other. It was a genuine, incredibly happy sound, the trademark ‘hoo hoo’s she chorused, and long ago she had been teased for it. Guys like Jake and Dirk helped that come to an abrupt end, and loud-mouthed broads like Roxy kept gossipy chatterboxes away from Jane’s less attractive features, like her odd laughter.

Once she finally stopped, she wiped her eyes of tears and just beamed at him. “It worked, you’re just all up in arms cos I’ve only been able to get you like, once before.”

Blinking the water out of his eyes, Dirk couldn’t help but let a slightly gentle expression reach his face when Jane started up with her infamous ‘hoo’s. It was a purely Jane thing and a completely honest sound. It was nice sometimes to hear something so plain and simple.

“Please, Jane, I’ve gotta let you win sometimes, it’s just the gentlemanly thing to do.” Then, as if to prove his point, Dirk brought an arm underneath her legs and picked her up in a princess carry.

Jane was about to retort when he picked her up, and she gave a squeal of surprise. Her arms flew around his neck immediately, and she clung tightly to him, despite knowing- yet again- that she was completely safe and sound.

“Where are you taking me?” She pouted, though she rest her head down against his shoulder and shut her eyes, relaxing. The sun was beating down even still, and under the scent of chlorine was something purely Dirk that made her feel so at-ease.

“Anywhere you want. You’re the princess tonight, it’s you.”

Then, without further ado, he began to twirl around slowly, so that Jane wouldn’t be startled and open her eyes. For the moment, he was happy to have a contented Jane in his arms.

Jane chuckled quietly under her breath, as he called her a princess and twirled her. She rest in his arms without worry for how heavy she must be, or how heavy she must be in comparison to Roxy, or anything else, really. She didn’t mind anything at all right now.

“Dirk, I’m quite glad you stayed put.” she muttered after a while of silence. “Everyone being so busy doing other things, it’s…sad, but…I like spending time with you, and I’m glad I can always count on you to be just where you always are.”

After a while of simply drifting silently in the water, Dirk was surprised when Jane spoke and mostly, he was surprised by what she said. “Really? Huh. Well, I’m glad my lazy ass urge not to go anywhere was able to at least help you out,” he joked, although the faint chuckles he had weren’t really quite full of amusement.

His movements suddenly came to a halt, then. “I like spending time with you, too, Jane,” he admitted. “You’re pretty cool for a Crocker.”

From there, the two of them simply drifted for a while longer, before Dirk sank himself under the water taking Jane with him. For the next few hours as the sun gradually lowered to the horizon, they phased in and out of playing like little children to simply floating in quiet.

Once the sun touched the skyline, though, Dirk felt his fingers getting to be a bit pruny and the cool water began to feel a bit too cold. “You ‘bout ready to get out, Jane?” he asked, standing up in the four feet end of the pool.

“Yeah, I think now’s a good time.” She nodded, walking up the steps gradually and giving a stretch that arched her back, shivering ever-so slightly. “Shoot, did you bring towels? I ran after you in such a hurry I entirely forgot…”

Dirk followed her out of the pool, arms slightly held out just in case she should slip. At the mention of towels Dirk proceeded to give himself a facepalm. “Ah shit,” he sighed. “Of course I would fucking forget that.”

The only thing really wet on his person, of course, were his boxers, which Dirk pulled at a little as it had clung a tad too much in certain areas. Not that he particularly cared, but he didn’t want to make Jane feel any more uncomfortable than she may be. Unfortunately, it still clung a bit to his butt, but there really wasn’t much to do for that.

“Do you wanna wait here while I get them?” he offered. “Or both of us just make a run for it back?”

“We can go back as long as you don’t mind my dripping on your carpet.” she gave an apologetic little smile, and focused her eyes high up on his eyes- still uncovered, and goodness did he look tired. That was around when she reached up with both hands, holding his face and tilting it up just a bit.

“Dirk, have you gotten any sleep lately?” she asked, worry and concern filling her voice as she inspected the bags under his eyes.

He nodded absentmindedly to her reply, simply following her on rote, so it caught him off guard when he felt Jane touch his face. Finding himself looking into her eyes, Dirk blinked in surprise, not quite used to such close contact.

At her question, he gave a small, reassuring smile, “I go to bed every night, Jane. Don’t worry about me.”

It was the truth, but a very misconceiving truth. Sure, he went to bed, but sleep never came. Not wanting her to push the topic any further, Dirk gently grabbed her wrists and pulled them away before moving past her, making his way towards their pile of clothes. After picking up each of their clothes, he grabbed his shades and put them back on before turning to Jane to offer her her glasses.

“Thanks.” She frowned, as she put her glasses on and wrinkled up her nose. She didn’t…believe him. Nobody had bags under their eyes like that unless they weren’t sleeping properly, or they had a skin condition, and Dirk definitely did not have a condition she didn’t know about.

“Say,” she brightened up a bit, trying to take her own mind off of fretting for him. “Why don’t we order pizza? Swimming always makes me really hungry.”

“Hell to the fucking yes, you’re a genius, Crocker. C’mon, let’s go get inside and I’ll order us something. Any specific toppings you want, by the way?” he asked, leading them back down the stairwell and into the apartment. “Feel free to go grab yourself a towel while I order, by the way.”

“Oh, as long as pepperoni is on that pie, I won’t mind anything else you put on it.” she said, with a bounce in her voice that carried to her steps, too, as she moved through the penthouse in search of a towel. She retrieved two, and used one for herself whilst tossing him the other.

It was only then that she realized her dilemma.

“Er…Dirk…I uhm, I don’t want to be a complicated little mess of a girl, but, I do need to dry what I’m wearing, and…I don’t really…have anything else to put on that would be comfortable while these are off….”

While she was gone, Dirk quickly placed an order for a pepperoni pizza to be delivered up to them and hung up the phone just as Jane came back into the room. He easily caught the towel that she threw him and gave a quick rubdown of his body before wrapping it around his waist.

Dirk raised an eyebrow as Jane started to stammer out her personal complication and his face slowly spread into a smile. “What? You don’t want to go commando with your ol’ pal Dirk?” he teased, reaching up underneath his own towel and pulling off his boxers.

Chuckling a bit as he walked toward her, he held his boxers loosely in one hand. “I’m joking of course, Crocker. Let’s head off to my closet and see if we can find something, hm?”

Jane turned a startling shade of red as she watched him draw his boxers from under his towel, and she was obviously flustered, but he was laughing and she put on a pout as she realized he’d done it on purpose.

“Hmph.” she mumbled, drawing her towel a little closer to herself and following him to his room. She wondered, in the back of her head, if Jake would wear his clothes, and there was something tight in her chest that stopped her immediately. It felt like jealousy, but she knew she had to be mistaken.

“Red cheeks suit you,” Dirk gibed, leading the way to his bedroom.

Opening his closet doors, he quickly rifled through his closet, trying to see what would work best for Jane’s needs. “Uuuh, yeah this’ll work,” he muttered to himself, pulling out an orange sweatshirt and a pair of light blue shorts.

“Here,” he said, handing over the clothes. “Go ahead and just change in the laundry room. And, uh, here. Dry my boxers while you’re at it.”

Grinning, he held out the briefs to her.

“Pfft, jerk.” but she snatched his wet briefs and took the dry clothes, heading for the laundry room as he told her to.

Once there, she tossed her bra, underwear, and his boxers all into the drier, setting it on and then slipping his sweatshirt and shorts on. She shifted around a little, got comfortable, and smiled. She felt warm, and everything smelled like him, and she was drowning in his sweatshirt, is shorts reaching below her knees.

When she came out, she was towel-drying her hair with her tongue poked out in concentration as she waited patiently for him to dress, out in his living room.

In picking out his own clothes, Dirk simply put on a clean pair of boxers and white shorts, not even bothering with a shirt, but he paused for a moment to fix up his hair. After being in the pool, his hair a bit flat and looked a bit too much like his brother for his own taste. Then he put on a bit of deodorant, because hell if he was gonna reek completely of chlorine for the rest of the night.

Exiting his room, Dirk tilted his head in amusement as he saw Jane drying her hair. “Dang. I look good on you, Crocker,” he grinned, walking over to the couch, which he flopped down on lengthwise. “What do you wanna do before the pizza gets here?”

Jane hid her hands in the sleeves of his oversized sweater as he told her she looked good in his clothes, and she rolled her eyes. “Hm. I dunno, I’m kinda sleepy.” she hummed, knowing exactly why. They had spent hours swimming and now she was comfortable and safe in his clothes, surrounded by him almost entirely.

“Let’s watch a movie?”

“Sounds good to me. Just go pick one out,” he motioned towards the cabinet full of dvd’s.

As if on command, Dirk’s buzzer rang and he lept off his couch and quickly answered, buzzing the pizza delivery man up. “Oh, I need money,” he stated simply to himself. “Hold the fort, Jane, I’ve gotta fetch my wallet.”

“Will do. Can’t have any of your well-meaning artifacts getting up and becoming sentient on me, can I?” she teased drowsily, as she moved to the cabinet in question and started looking through films. Most of them were not in her taste; the Strider brothers had ‘unique’ taste in comedy, and of course, the elder was well-stocked of his own shitty films, so Jane was limited to classic 90’s hits.

Deciding on ‘Back to the Future’, Jane queued up the DVD player and was flopped down on the couch, curled into a corner, by the time Dirk was done with the delivery.

Placing the box on the coffee table, Dirk opened it and quickly grabbed a slice. “I know this slice is going to fuck my mouth up, but I’m too damn hungry to give a shit,” he quickly spouted to Jane before taking a bite of the slice.

As he tried to cool down the bite he had taken, Dirk grabbed another slice and handed it to Jane. Finally managing to swallow, he motioned towards where she was sitting, “By the way, you’re in my spot… Which is to say, all of this couch is my spot.”

Grinning, he laid himself out on the couch, his head laying on her leg while his own legs reached to the other side of the couch.

“And asshole of the year award goes to…” she took a big bite of mostly-cool pizza, and smiled as she chewed, winking down at him.

“A Strider, as it does every year.” she finished, after swallowing her bite and shifting to be more comfortable. She found that the only resting spot for her arm that wasn’t awkward to maneuver into was one that could drape across his chest and hang over his shoulder, close to his neck and jawline, and she hoped he didn’t mind.

“Ready to start?”

“Wow, I was really on the edge of my seat waiting for that announcement,” Dirk retorted, taking another bite of his slice. “And I’m always ready.”

Smiling, he reached up and placed a hand on the arm she had placed on him. Eating a few more slices, Dirk slowly fell into a calmer state and barely into the movie, he began to feel… sleepy. For a second, he wasn’t even sure, but somewhere along the line, Dirk realized that he was having a hard time keeping his eyes open.

Rolling onto his stomach, Dirk wrapped his arms around Jane’s waist. Face partially on her stomach, he looked sleepily up at her, “What time is it?” A short pause. “Won’t your dad be worried or some shit?”

“Shh,” she crooned, reaching down and gently taking his glasses off so that they wouldn’t poke at her so hard. “I’ve already checked in with him.” she had finished her portion of the pizza long ago, and had begun to doze a bit herself, but now reached down to stroke her fingers through the short hairs on the back of his neck gently.

“Just rest. I’m not going anywhere.” She paused after this statement, however, mildly concerned that it had only now occurred to her that there was a strange lack of presence in his apartment. “But won’t your brother be home soon? …Gosh, it’s really late. Where is he?”

Allowing his shades to be removed, Dirk sleepily pressed his face into Jane’s side. At the touch of fingers on his neck he gave a long, deep sigh and allowed himself to relax. Only to tense up again at the mention of his brother and he pulled away from Jane, rubbing at his eyes and pushing his bangs back. “I dunno, maybe halfway across the country, the world,” he paused, and then just in case she didn’t understand. “Yeah. He just doesn’t come here.”

At this admission, he turned away from her and sat crosslegged on the couch.

It took Jane a few moments, and at first she was going to ask where he was, if it was an awards ceremony, when he’d be back.

But when he looked away from her, she realized it instantly; Dave just _never came around_. Dirk was alone. Constantly. He lived on his own, and Jane’s heart broke for him. She knew he wouldn’t want her pity, knew that he would be offended (and rightfully so) if she tried to push it on him, so she simply reached out and hugged him tightly.

“When’s the last time you saw him?”

At Jane’s hug, he simply placed his head on hers, accepting the warmth that she offered. “I dunno… Maybe graduation?” Dirk guessed.

It was a surprise even then to see him and if Dave had stopped to see him in between then and now, it wasn’t really something you could call a visit. More like a pit stop.

“Graduation-?!” Jane started to exclaim, but calmed down quickly, knowing he wouldn’t want to worry her. But already, she had a plan of action in mind. Dirk would become part of her household whether he liked it or not, darnit.

“Well, how do you feel about having a sleepover, D-S?” she smiled, sort of turning her head up to press her nose into his neck in an affectionate gesture. “I think we’re both long overdue for some quality resting-together time, huh? Only, you know, this time we could actually fit in a _bed_ if we so desired…”

“Oh! Shoot, unless that’s- weird, or, or something, which it probably is, haha. Sorry, I’m- not thinking.”

Sensing her slight panic, Dirk moved a hand to her knee and squeezed the tiniest bit to let her know it was fine. At her offer for a sleepover, though, Dirk was completely caught off guard, especially at the mention of them sleeping in the same bed. He’d… shared his bed with a few other people, but obviously those people were not Jane. For her to even let slip that sort of thing surprised him, even though Dirk knew she meant it in the most innocent way possible.

As she tried to backtrack on her words, Dirk started a low laugh that was practically silent. Turning, he placed both his arms at either side of her. “Normally, I’d pull a load of shit over what you just said. About how I knew it was only a matter of time until you succumbed to my Strider charms, but,” he grinned down at her. “I know you’re immune to my demeanor… Also, I’m thinking heading to my bed is an excellent idea.”

With that, Dirk once again snaked a hand underneath her legs and, slipping off the couch, picked her up against his body. Leaving the movie still going, Dirk headed to his bedroom.

Immune, Jane thought, she wouldn’t say. Dirk had flustered her plenty of times with teasing advances over the years, but she reacted far less than most people, so…

“Yeah, you’re not exactly my type.” She laughed, as he picked her up and she wrapped her arms around his neck. “But I know plenty of people who only wish they were me right now.” she teased.

“Oh, really?” he replied, quirking an eyebrow. “What exactly is your type, anyway? You’ve only dated one guy, so I haven’t quite gotten a feel for it.”

And for a moment, Dirk wondered if he could carry Jake in his arms like this and if Jake would even want to. He shook the thought from his head, though. He was hanging out with Jane and he didn’t want to be one of those people who left their friends in the dust. Reaching the edge of his bed, Dirk gently lowered her onto the bed, leaning over her in the process. Then, pulling out his arm from under her legs, he laid down on top of her moment, wanting to tease her some more. At least until he remembered that although Jane was wearing bulky clothing, she wasn’t actually wearing any underwear and he rolled off of her. Spreading himself out on the other side of the bed. Giving a sigh, he stared up at his ceiling.

Jane squirmed and giggled as he laid atop her, but she almost wished she could hold him close to her and outline every muscle she could feel with her fingertips. She realized too late that this was not exactly a platonic wish, and grew distressed. What was wrong with her?

“My type.” She sighed, as he rolled off of her, staring at the ceiling alongside him. “I dunno, I guess I can’t exactly be picky.” she muttered, sitting up on her elbows and poking her stomach through his sweatshirt. It was so large on her, you couldn’t really see it, but she knew it was there. “I’m not prime picking, haha.”

Dirk turned his head over to look at her, frowning a bit in confusion when she said she couldn’t be picky. When she poked at her stomach area, though, his heart fell a little.

“Jane… Jane…” he repeated her name trying to get her to look up at him and he rolled over onto his side so that he could take the hand that she was poking herself with in both of his. “Please don’t belittle yourself. You can be as picky as you very well fucking please. If they’re too goddamn blind to see how perfect you are, then they can just move they’re sorry asses along.”

That said, Dirk brought her hand up to his face and pressed his lips to her fingers with his eyes closed. He didn’t kiss, just pressed them.

“Aw, Dirk.” she muttered, listening and watching him with piqued interest. He seemed so genuine, more so than when any of her other friends said it, and it was almost puzzling. She leaned over and took her hand back, giving him a very quick, chaste kiss to the cheek. “Thank you, that was one of the sweetest things I think you’ve ever said.”

And after a few seconds of silence, she playfully nudged his shoulder, and rolled onto her stomach, tucking one hand under the pillow. “Now, go to sleep.”

His eyes flicked open when he felt Jane’s lips upon his cheek, and orange irises locked onto her face, expressionless. That act of thanks surprised him, and he tried to pass it off as the reason simply being that the late night made them more open to acting upon things they normally wouldn’t. “You’re welcome,” he muttered back.

Rolling onto her belly brought Jane closer to Dirk and he could feel the slightest bit of warmth coming off of her. Yet, for once, Dirk was unsure of whether he should wrap an arm around her. Normally he would, but the fact that they were in his bed made him wary. The others knew he had been a bit more welcome with taking people home and although he knew Jane knew him well enough that he wouldn’t even think about pulling a move on her, he still worried.

And so he whispered a quiet “sure,” closed his eyes, and stayed completely still. Still sleepless, Dirk tried concentrating on the movement of his own chest, but after twenty minutes, he opened his eyes a little bit to see Jane’s face.

Jane was in that space between sleep and waking, shifting a little, getting comfortable in a new place. She eventually wound up sitting up on one elbow and blinking blearily down at him.

“Sokay if I use you as a pill’w?” she mumbled, rubbing at her eyes and only then realizing her glasses were still on. She set them down on his bedside table, and scooted ever-closer, until their sides were pressed together.

Dirk started when Jane sat up, and nodded silently at her sleepy question. Still, he didn’t move until Jane stopped at his side. Feeling the warmth hidden under his sweatshirt, Dirk finally gave in and set an arm loosely on top of her, his chest touching her shoulder.

This time when he closed his eyes, he could focus on the breath of Jane’s and the way her exhale felt against his skin. Warm and content, Dirk began to drift off.

And Jane was out like a light, her cheek over his chest and her ear pressed right up against his heart. The beating rhythm lulled her easily into sleep, where she didn’t dream, only rested, and one arm lay still over his abdomen, shifting with the rise and fall of it as he breathed. Her fingers curled into a loose fist, and the last thing she remembered before drifting off was thinking of how nice it was, to hold and be held in return.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr Post: http://fyeahjanedirk.tumblr.com/post/29878462647/a-dirkjane-rp-turned-long-enough-to-be-a


	3. A big plate of oops

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dinner with friends. Oh, and Dirk figures out Jane's crush.

It turned out that not much had changed in the sleeping patterns of Dirk Strider since before he lost Lil Cal out on the lake. When he slept, he would manage to entangle himself in the long limbs of Cal’s before the night was through. So, while he slept next to Jane, his arm curled tighter around her side and he curled up onto her until their foreheads touched.

With so many sleepless nights previous, the sun failed to wake him up as it began to filter in through the windows.

Jane began to stir, as she was naturally an early riser with her father, and the sunlight started her waking process. She first opened her eyes, slowly, and stared at the blob before her. It was only after a few long seconds that she realized it was Dirk. She remembered sleeping over at his house, she remembered curling up on him as a pillow, but she did not remember him so close. A very gentle shifting revealed that he was all tangled up in her, with his forehead touching her’s, and she couldn’t help but melt. He looked so vulnerable, so content in sleep, so… _tired_.

She was struck by the very distinct urge to keep him asleep, not let him wake until his body allowed it naturally. She wondered if he’d ever wake up, at that rate, but oh well. She very carefully began to try and untangle from him, watching his face carefully for any sign of disturbance.

Unfortunately, Dirk was still not a very light sleeper when it came to movement. Dave had instilled that instinct in him way back when he stuck around to be a guardian. Dirk’s mind jolted and his eyes flicked open. Having forgotten what it was like to fall asleep, his mind went into overdrive in acquiring the details of his situation. Warmth covered his limbs from the shape he was holding onto, which was… Jane?

At this realization, Dirk jolted back, not entirely sure what to expect. Sitting back on his haunches at the edge of his bed, Dirk took a few breaths and wiped his eyes as he remembered the impromptu sleepover the two of them had. “I… slept?” he garbled under his breath, realization coming over him.

“Yes, you did. I did, too.” Jane cheerfully, but very cautiously, reminded him. She was curious, he seemed so shocked at a thing he said he got every night. She knew that wasn’t the truth already, but this sort of just proved it.

“Shh.” she hummed, sliding her fingers over his back, attempting to calm him. She felt each vertebrae of his spine, smoothed a few scars on his back over with her hands. “How do you feel?”

He gave a huff of amusement at her cheerful gibes and blinked a bit more while pushing a hand through his hair. The second her fingers touched his skin, though, he drooped over a little, enjoying the sensation. It made him feel pretty ridiculous to react that way, but he really was just a big cat about things like that.

“Pretty fucking good, as usual,” he replied, trying to backtrack to hold her off of the suspicion that he could feel Jane having on his sleeping habits. “Buuuut… I still think sleeping in is a great idea.”

Leaning forward, Dirk placed his head at her neck and wrapped his arms around her before pushing her back down on his bed. He didn’t put his weight on her, though, instead he rested on his elbows with his legs off to the side. “What you Crockers can find in the mornings, I’ll never know.”

“Oof,” Jane blinked, as she was pushed back and held onto. She stared at the ceiling as she laughed to his quip and shook her head. “Well, usually I find classes waiting for me, but without school I find pancakes, bacon, eggs, sausage…all the things I was going to make before you decided to put us back in bed.” she smirked, but part of her wondered if he’d fall back to sleep again. She wanted him to get good rest, and as much of it as she could make him get while she was with him.

He smiled lazily into her shoulder, his head hanging. “Well, I have to admit that those breakfast goods sound pretty great,” Dirk admitted, pushing himself off of his elbows. “I guess we should get to handling breakfast, huh?”

Sighing, Dirk pushed himself up and stretched out his arms and back before standing up. Turning around, he offered Jane a hand up.

“Yeeeep,” she took his hand, pulling herself up with his help and shifting around in his big, comfy clothing. She was going to be sad when she had to leave it behind.

“Unless you want breakfast to melt into lunch, which, at this point, if we wait any longer, it might.” She moved past him toward his kitchen, eager to get started.

“We didn’t sleep in that long,” Dirk rebuffed, following after her into the kitchen.

From then, Dirk and Jane hung out as they normally did, messing with each other and simply enjoying each other’s company. Jane attempted to teach him how to cook pancakes and, while he didn’t burn, he proved too terrible at flipping them. Breakfast was still considered a huge success overall, though, and Dirk felt the wonders of actually eating regularly. Afterwards, he gathered Jane’s underwear from the drier for her to change into and he took his own clothes back.

Before saying their goodbyes, the two of them came up with a reunion dinner with Jake and Roxy, who they found on pesterchum and discussed plans until they settled on a nice place for an evening two nights away. Dirk would be picking up Jane and Jake would pick up Roxy due to the restaurant lead the two guys past the girl’s houses and it would be a lot simpler to have only two cars.

Dirk settled into beginning his robotics project after Jane left, wanting to make some headway. The day before the dinner, Dirk fell back into his old routines. No sleep, scarce meals, and completely engrossed in his work. He had gone to bed hoping that maybe somehow his insomnia had left him, but found only frustration as he continued to stay conscious.

Finally, the day of the dinner rolled around and Dirk pulled out one of his suits. No jacket, though, just a vest. Once suited up, he took off to Jane’s and rang the doorbell.

Jane was … well, mostly upset.

She spent as long as she could curled up in bed, on-and-off crying. It wasn’t that big of a deal, but this was the official end of her ability to push away the idea that Dirk did not actually like Jake. It was also the beginning of her having to pretend she was nothing less than thrilled for them.

It didn’t even occur to her that Jake would turn Dirk down. There was no reason for him to do that, she thought, because he was so freaking wonderful! Witty, charming, handsome, intelligent, sweet- she really couldn’t think of a major flaw that Jake would ever see in him.

Strangely, however, even as she smoothed out her dress (it was black, strapless, white polka-dotted and with a bright red sash around the waist that tied into a bow at her hip), she found it really very odd that she was less upset that her long-time crush, Jake, was going to be taken, and more upset that Dirk’s free time with her would be extremely limited and probably a lot less affectionate now.

“Hey! All ready.” she beamed, as she came out the doorway and stepped into her porch light, waving to the silhouette of her father in the window before looking him over. “Wow, you look great, Dirk. Definitely sure to impress your man.” she winked, and her chest clenched in agony.

He grinned back at her, “You think so, huh? Well, you look absolutely fucking gorgeous.”

Stooping down, he made a big show of air-kissing both of her cheeks. Standing back up, he held out an elbow for her to take and lead her over to his car. Opening the door for her, as well, Dirk was going all out in being a gentleman, his appreciation for her being his wingman was his excuse, but really he simply loved catering to her.

Arriving at the restaurant, they found Jake and Roxy already waiting for them at the entrance of the restaurant. As they approached, Roxy started practically screaming, “Janey!!!” across the parking lot while Jake apologized profusely to everyone around them.

Dirk couldn’t help but feel a jump in his heartbeat at the sight of him, Jake’s suit making him seem more grown up and handsome than Dirk thought he had a right to be. “Hey there, ol’ chap,” Jake greeted, his smile practically taking over his face. “Good to see you still rockin’ the vests!”

“Only the best, Jake,” he managed to reply before English grabbed him up in a big, enthusiastic hug.

“Roxy! Good to see you.” And as Jane laughed while hugging her ‘bestie’, she glimpsed Dirk and Jake over her shoulder, embracing. She wanted to throw up, fuck.

“I’m starved, let’s get inside.” She rushed them along, tugging the wiggling, impatient woman beside her into the restaurant in a hurry. She wanted to not have to watch the things going on if she could help it.

And the dinner went… well, mostly okay. There was idle chatter and catching up, and then they got into the real nitty-gritty of things, talking about memories and future plans and how Jane’s dad was, yes, still baking up a storm as he was deep into Empty Nest Syndrome.

Jane noticed the lingering glances, the brush of hands whenever Dirk and Jake spoke, and she felt increasingly more devastated by the entire thing. She didn’t want to process what was happening, or what she’d have to do in a matter of moments as they asked for the check.

“That was a wonderful meal.” Jane smiled genuinely enough around at the table, as her counterpart, Roxy, nodded and swayed in agreement. One too many glasses of wine, as usual.

Even though he was caught up in holding onto Jake, Dirk still caught a glimpse of the retreating form of Jane and he frowned a little. Why hadn’t she come to say hi to Jake? Still, they all followed after her and he sat down next to the broad figure of Jake and felt an incontrollable rush as Jake grinned at him and gave him a wink before starting into the basic questions of catching up.

Once the check finally came around, Roxy started trying to stand up, but was a bit off balance in her heels. “Would you like a hand?” Dirk offered, standing up and reaching for her without waiting for a response.

“What a gel- gentlemant,” she giggled, taking his arm. “I’m afraid I need to vist the ladies rum- room.”

“That’s no problem at all,” Dirk replied, waving at the two left at the table. “We’ll be right back.”

“Jake and I will wait here, then.” Jane smiled a way-too-sweet smile up at Dirk and Roxy as they stood, and her body stiffened as she was left alone with the man of the hour.

As she looked right into those big green eyes, her heart seemed to completely stop for a good three seconds. She felt a rush of adrenaline, the butterflies in her stomach seeming to multiply in an instant with how wonderful she felt as she gazed upon him. She had forgotten how much she liked him- but was that right? If you really loved someone, weren’t they all you thought about?

“Jake,” she said, slowly, “I have a question for you. It’s- well, a silly hypothetical. A what-if. Just for fun, you know?”

With a few stumbles, Dirk managed to lead Roxy to the restroom. Once they reached the door, Roxy opened the door and then began to walk in, but paused in the doorway. “You… need to go back there, ‘cuz you have pissed a big one, mister.” And with that she disappeared inside before he could ask what she meant.

Still, advice from Roxy wasn’t to be ignored. Despite her usual ditzy act, she had an uncanny perception of the world around her. So, Dirk headed back towards the table, but stopped when he saw Jane and Jake speaking to one another.

And Jane was, unfortunately in this moment, clear as crystal about her feelings, at least subconsciously. Everything, from the way she played with her hair and looked into his eyes, to the giggles that were more flirtatious than usual, screamed ‘I really really like you!’, but as expected, Jake was completely oblivious.

And Jane trucked on. Her shoulders slumped, her hand gestures became more pronounced, her eyes darted around a lot, as she tried to explain to Jake in too many words that Dirk was thinking of asking him out. The poor guy never caught on, not really, to what was going on- so Jane, as obvious as it was that it was hurting her, kept trying to get it through to him.

At first, Dirk was filled with anticipation that Jane was actually going to get some sort of hint from Jake that he should even bother approaching. But then, Dirk’s attention began to focus on Jane’s expressions, her body language, and an uncomfortable feeling began to settle in him.

The way she held her hands out on the table, the way she smiled in such a sweet way, and the way she looked over at him… A big, heavy stone settled in Dirk’s stomach and suddenly he was speed walking his way over to the table. Roxy was definitely and completely right. He’d pissed an entire lake on himself.

Poker face suddenly in full force, Dirk placed his hands on the table and leaned over towards Jane. “Hey, Jane, sorry to interrupt, but I just got a really important call from my landlord and I really have to get going back to the complex,” he spoke quickly before turning to Jake. “Sorry ‘bout this, bud. Roxy’s in the bathroom, you should wait for her. We’ll catch you later okay?”

And then hoping that Jane would just follow after him, he turned away from them and quickly walked away towards the exit. While he was still ahead of Jane, he clenched his hands into fists. How could he be so stupid! It was so fucking obvious and he just… He was the worst, to put it simply. A simply, truly, awful friend.

Jane was almost entirely frazzled by the interruption, and especially from Dirk himself, that she sat dumbly across from Jake for a good long second before nodding her apologies and telling him she would message him later. She rushed off after him, but it was not until they were almost to the car that she spoke, walking at his side and looking at him, frustrated and confused.

“Dirk, what the hell?” she asked, “I wasn’t anywhere near done! I have no idea what he thinks-“

“I don’t care what the hell he thinks!” he interrupted loudly, not allowing himself to stop, even though he was clenching up inside. “I don’t, Jane.”

Holy fuck, she’d actually been trying! The very knowledge cut at him and he felt like the biggest shithole to exist. Arriving at his car, Dirk reached into his pocket for his keys. He hated having her confused right now, but he really didn’t feel like having this conversation in a fucking parking lot. “Just get in the car, Jane.”

In all her years of knowing him, she had only ever heard Dirk get loud a handful of times, and only when it was extremely important to him. Rather than frightened, she was only even more confused, and got in as requested, quiet. She didn’t think asking more questions would help, but she was going to ask them eventually.

For the first few minutes, Dirk simply stayed completely silent, taking quiet breaths to calm himself. Why hadn’t she said something? Anything? He would’ve understood, dammit. Yeah, well, she was just being a really good fucking friend unlike yourself. He wasn’t angry at her, of course not. He was hating himself for not realizing sooner, for even having to put her through something as awful as trying to help someone else get the person you were crushing on.

“Jane,” he started suddenly, soft and just a tiny bit sad. “How long have you liked him?”

Her heart sank. He knew, he had figured it out- she had tried hard to keep it from him, she had worked so hard to keep everything out of her head all the days they spent together, but somehow he had figured it out only just now.

“I’m- what? I don’t- Jake? You mean, do I like him? Ha! No, no, I don’t like him. Not like you do!” she lied, because that was what she was trying her best to make herself believe…

Dirk gave a small laugh when she tried to deny it. “Please, Jane. Stop. You’re the shittiest liar,” he paused and shook his head. “This whole time… I’ve been messing around and breaking your heart at the same goddamn time.”

He went quiet again, his hands clenching and unclenching the steering wheel.

“Dirk, honestly, it’s- it’s okay. If it really bothered me all that much, I’d say so.” she insisted, giving into the fact that yeah okay maybe she liked Jake. “I wouldn’t have agreed to help you if I didn’t think you deserved him more- you’re better for him, more like him. You two would be lovely together!”

“Stop fucking saying things like that. Don’t tell me it isn’t painful as all hell to help someone else get together with the person you like. And especially don’t say that I deserve him more,” Dirk paused to catch a breath. “What I’ve just done to you is a perfect example of why I fucking shouldn’t. I am a shit friend and therefore, would make for a much shittier boyfriend.”

“Don’t you DARE say that Dirk Strider.” Jane hissed, very much serious now, as she turned to face him as much as she could in his car. “You are going to be the sweetest, most wonderful boyfriend ever. You’re going to hold onto him or whomever you go after, and make them feel safe every time you hug them. You’re going to be gentle when they need it and rough when they don’t, you’re going to have the right words to say half the time and the rest of it, they won’t mind that you’re being dumb because of your genuine desire to do the right thing. You’re going to be the best boyfriend, reliable and strong and compassionate and so well-meaning and sweet, you’re going to be _wonderful_.” she had no idea where any of that came from, but suddenly she felt quite…strange.

“You are not a ‘shit friend’, you have strong romantic feelings for someone. I’ve waited too long to make my own move, I want you to have your turn, okay? You deserve to be happy.”

As she went on, Dirk glanced at her every now and then, not wanting to take his gaze off of the road for too long. But his brow creased as she went on about him and oddly, her words made him feel better. They calmed him.

When Jane was done, he shrugged a little. “Well… Thanks, Crocker, but I hope you forgive me if I still feel a bit like a huge shit. Also, even if Jake stripped naked and did a little jig to display how he loved me or some shit, right now I couldn’t really be happy, because you’d be hurt.”

Jane gave a long, hard sigh and slumped in her seat, frowning hard at the street expanse before them as they made their way to her home. “I wish I had been able to keep it down.” she said after a while, very apologetic-sounding. “What gave me away?”

He exhaled in relief, glad that the tension had dissipated down to a relatively normal level. “Please, you look like any other girl who’s trying to get a guy’s attention. When you spoke with him, you only had eyes for him,” Dirk shrugged. “Anyway, sorry about dragging you into this. Guess I should, uh, not bother you with anything anymore.”

“What? No! No, Dirk, that would hurt- even worse than anything that’s been happening this whole time. I’m your friend- I’m your best friend, I want to help you, I want you to feel comfortable coming to me and talking to me.” she was getting increasingly panicked and frantic. She didn’t want to lose his trust or respect, she wanted to remain his confidant more than she wanted Jake’s affection.

At her panic, he smiled a little. “I didn’t mean that I didn’t want to hangout, but… I don’t want you helping me do this project anymore,” Dirk explained. “I can’t stand knowing that I’m hurting you, so… Whatever I decide to do with Jake will stay a personal matter. The way I should’ve done it.”

With this, Dirk pulled up into her driveway and parked. “Don’t worry, I’d rather cut off my own head than toss aside our friendship, okay?”

Exiting his vehicle, he opened the car door for her and waited to walk her to her door.

Jane just sat in his car for a few seconds longer, even as he opened her door for her, and she stared at her own home, lost in thought. She was berating herself for being so obvious about Jake, she was determined to keep in the loop with Dirk about his love interest, and most importantly…

Something sort of turned off in her head, some desperate fondness to ‘catch’ Jake had diminished to a faint glow of ‘oh, he’s cute and charming’ instead of ‘give him to me right this instant!’ and she didn’t know why. She didn’t know how she could convince Dirk of that right now, either.

So she got out of the car, and her eyes stung as she embraced him tightly. All she wanted was his arms making her feel safe again, and her face hid into his shirt as she clung to the last vestiges of her thoughts on the boys she knew best.

Dirk was caught off guard by her sudden hug and he held his arms out for balance for a moment. With her hands clinging so tightly to him, he could practically feel the desperation the embrace carried. Sighing, he wrapped his arms around her and held her head to his chest. “It’s okay, Jane,” Dirk spoke in a low tone, fingers teasing gently at her black hair. “I’m still here, okay?”

Looking down at her, he pulled away a bit, cupping her face in his hands. “Let’s get you inside,” he continued, quickly scanning her features while his thumbs rubbed lightly at her cheeks.

Jane swallowed down the lump in her throat as she tilted her head forward a little and looked up at him. She nodded a little as he told her they should get inside, and headed for the door after that, thinking hard. She wanted to fix everything, but, she just…she couldn’t.

“I’m sorry.” was all she guessed she had left to say, as she unlocked her own front door and stood in it, staring forlornly at him.

Letting her go, Dirk stayed next to his car and stuck his hands in his pockets as he watched her walk away. When she stopped to apologize he simply gave a small smile back. “Me too.”

With that, Dirk got back in his car and drove off, the short ride home only letting him think about what an ass he had of himself. So, when he reached his apartment, Dirk had no urge to simply just lay in bed knowing that he wouldn’t be able to think about anything else. Instead, he worked through the night like he used to. At first, Dirk had approached his robotics, but realized that working on it reminded him of Jake and everything that had just happened. So instead, he approached his turntables and began to practice until way into the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr: http://fyeahjanedirk.tumblr.com/post/29988932658/a-dirkjane-rp-turned-long-enough-to-be-a


	4. Feelings where they weren't before

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More sharing of beds and Jane tries to deal with her newfound feelings.

For the next few days, Dirk made it a point to not leave his apartment. Filling his days with swimming, practicing his sword fighting, and dj-ing. As for eating, he had a practically never-ending supply of instant ramen and beef jerky that he lived off of. Resting had simply been pushed aside for now.

When Roxy and Jake inquired about Dirk’s sudden silence, Jane just told them he was engrossed in work, and after the few days following her excuse, she realized he probably really was, and decided to put an end to it.

Despite feeling downright rotten for everything that had happened, she baked yet another batch of the carrot cake cupcakes Dirk had liked so much, and headed to his house. She wanted to make sure he really was just working, and not doing anything destructive. With a small baking tray in her hands and a worried look permanently etched into her face (alongside tired eyes and lips a bit chapped from the way she chewed them when she was upset), she knocked on his door.

Dirk had finally resumed his work on his project, trying to figure out how to compress everything he needed into one thing when he heard a knock at his door. Then, since no one usually visited him, he stopped by his room to pull on a black tanktop and grey shorts. Dirk assumed that one of the residents below him was coming over to complain or ask for help fixing something and he didn’t want to be caught in just his boxers.

Ruffling his hair, Dirk simply swung the door open without bothering to check who it was. His eyebrows rose when he saw Jane standing there. “Oh. Hey, Jane,” he greeted, backing out of the entrance so that she could come in. “C’mon in, I guess.”

The ‘I guess’ portion made her insides clench a little the same way they had the night of the Plan That Went Horribly Wrong. She stepped inside and glanced around, immediately hit with the realization that he really hadn’t left the house in all this time, and had probably barely done anything apart from working on projects.

“Um, I brought- I brought cupcakes. Carrot cake, the same recipe we used together.” she said somewhat timidly, holding them out so that he might take up her offer. “You can even keep the pan, we have so many at home, hahaha.”

He tried to smile in return, but it ended up looking just a bit awkward. “Oh, thanks,” Dirk replied simply, accepting the tray from her hands. “I’ll hang it up on a wall and admire it daily.”

Glancing around, he knew that Jane would be able to tell that he’d hardly left his flat and knew that he was in for it. “Well, I’ll just put these in the kitchen,” he continued, beginning to make his way to place the cupcakes on a counter. “What’re they for?”

“Nothing, I just- I’ve been baking a lot.” And that was the truth. Jane baked for many reasons, but one of the most common and the one resulting in the most uneaten baked goods was emotional stress.

She didn’t follow him, remained where she was, and after a little while, she spoke again, to him but not looking at him. “You haven’t been eating very well. Or sleeping. You haven’t had any fresh air.” she surmised just by looking through the room. “I…worry about you.”

“Well, I’m not dead yet,” he replied, trying to joke, but it fell a bit flat. “And I go swim on the roof, that’s… Well, I guess it is the city, so it’s not really that fresh, but still.”

Dirk shrugged as he walked back into the living room. “I’ve just got some shit to do, is all,” he continued. “But I think I’ve been doing okay, no need to worry.”

Jane swallowed the lump in her throat and pressed on. “They’re asking where you went. Why you’re not online.” she spoke in a quieter voice. “I don’t know what to tell them after a few days.” her eyes stung a bit, fuck, where did tears come from? She blamed her hormonal imbalance for the week.

“I guess I’m not all that astonished to see you doing exactly what you always do, hiding out and working yourself ragged, but…you’re hidden away now, and that’s what worries me.”

He didn’t have to guess who ‘they’ were and knew that hiding from everyone hadn’t exactly been the greatest of plans or a good thing to do as a friend. Looking up from his feet in shame, Dirk took in Jane’s face, her eyes beginning to shimmer a bit. Oh fuck. Instantly his shame was replaced with distress, since he had no idea what to do if she started leaking tears. Especially since it seemed that he was the cause.

Dirk took a step towards her, but stopped, instead trying to give her a reassuring smile. “It’s okay, Jane. Look, what do you want me to do?”

Jane blinked a few times and, oh, there they were, rolling down her cheeks. She quickly wiped them away and held herself, shrugging, feeling so _small_ and so _sad_. “D’you…wanna watch a movie?” she knew that wasn’t what he was asking for, but the person she need the most right now was Dirk, even if he was part of the problem.

“Fuck yes, of course, c’mere,” and Dirk couldn’t let her just stand there any longer.

He grabbed her in a hug before leaving an arm around her to lead her to his couch. “We never did finish watching that movie, did we?” he asked just to fill the silence and hopefully distract her.

Leaving her to settle on his couch, Dirk quickly set the movie back up and skipped to the part that they had left at. Rejoining her on the couch, Dirk patted his lap. “C’mere.”

Jane returned his embrace, melting in the hold she had missed so much. She didn’t realize how big of a game-changer Dirk’s feelings toward her would be; the last few days had been hell (for several unrelated reasons, too).

She settled in on his couch as he expected her to, and then she stared as he patted his lap. For a split second, she turned pink- imagining something far different than she was sure he intended- and then she decided that she’d play stupid to figure out how he wanted things to go. She shimmied into his side and curled an arm around his waist, content just being there nevermind how close she was to him, but if he had wanted her elsewhere, well, he’d have to do it himself.

Dirk gave a small laugh at Jane, when she pretty much ignored his lap and just leaned up against him. “When I pat my lap, I sorta mean my lap,” he smiled, raising an arm to slowly nudge her head into his lap. “Isn’t that better?”

Looking down at her, he smiled and pushed some hair out of her face. Tracing circles around her cheek before moving his hand to her side.

Jane blinked a few times as she was lowered down to his lap, and she smiled as she shut her eyes and his fingers roved over her face. She felt so at ease, so at peace there, and when his hand went to her side, she turned her head to actually try to pay some attention to the movie.

But about ten minutes later, she was wincing and squirming ever-so slightly. Cramps freaking sucked.

Noticing her uncomfortable movements, Dirk broke his gaze from the tv down to her. Frowning, he asked, “Are you uncomfortable? I could move or something.”

“No, no, it’s not you.” she rushed to say, brows knitted tight in discomfort. “I’m- errr- I have cramps.” she was not sure if that was a clear definition though, wasn’t sure if Dirk understood what sort of cramps these were. “I’ll be fine, they’ll pass- just- hurts a lot right now.”

“Cramps?” he repeated underneath his breath. “Anything I can get to help then? Medicine or some shit?”

He moved his hand down to her stomach and gave it a light rub.

“No, um, not really anything you can do.” she sighed, seeming to relax under his gentle touch. “Unless you have a heating pad? Or anything warm, really, it just helps to have heat applied.” she mumbled, feeling a bit drowsy with his rhythm picking up.

“I don’t, but… here. Let me try something.”

Lifting her from his lap, Dirk pulled his legs up and laid down so as to separate Jane from the back of the couch. Then, he shimmied down until he could rest his head on her stomach. “How ‘bout this?” he asked, pulling off his shades so he wouldn’t stab her and bringing his hand back up to continue rubbing her stomach.

She had to laugh, just a little, and she knew that were she not in pain there would definitely be some innuendo being thrown around, but she was in pain and he was helping. She gave a nod and reached down, playing with the end of his hair lightly. “That helps, thanks.”

Grinning, Dirk nuzzled her stomach a bit, sighing when he felt her fingers tease at his hair. “Good,” he mumbled, closing his eyes and losing himself in the comfort using Jane as a pillow brought him.

Breathing in brought him the comforting smell of the Crocker home, reminding him of the childhood that Dirk didn’t get. He continued steadily to rub her stomach, but the extra softness of her stomach gradually brought along a sleepy feeling. Before he knew it, his rubbing had slowed to a standstill and he’d faded into unconsciousness.

And so had she.

Jane woke hours later cramp-free and very, very warm. It was almost pitch dark, but the glow of the television screen was lighting up just enough of the room so that she wasn’t startled. It looped a menu continuously, and when she looked down at the warm, soft lump on her body, she felt her heart skip a beat.

Dirk lay, sweet and still, on her stomach, his breathing aligned with her own naturally in sleep. Her fingers tangled in his hair still, as she remembered what happened when she had moved even in the slightest before, so she did not dare twitch a muscle. She wanted to watch him, just for a while. He looked…genuinely happy, comfortable, transparent for once. It was a look she really loved on him.

Her heart gave a very abrupt flutter, as her fingers drifted down his neck and pressed at the back of it in a slow, easy massage, and she realized it was pretty darn familiar to the flutters it had given whenever Jake gave her those great big bear hugs.

“Dirk,” she breathed in almost a whisper, “Dirk, it’s rather late, maybe we should … move to bed.” She only hesitated because of how she knew it sounded.

He moved into consciousness at the touch of fingers on his neck, but rather than jump into alertness like the first time, Dirk woke slowly. At the sound of Jane’s voice, he opened his eyes and looked up at her a little blearily. Groggy, he didn’t comment on what she said and simply nodded in response, moving quietly.

Pushing himself into a sitting position, he wiped his eyes and yawned a little. “You sure you want to sleep here again?” he asked quietly. “Is your dad really okay with this?”

“We trust you, Dirk.” Jane smiled sweetly. “I’m twenty years old, I’m an adult, I can spend my time wherever I’d like. And I’d like to spend it with you.”

As she sat up and stretched, too, she watched him and her whole body seized up. He was…he was gorgeous. His eyes were this beautiful shade of amber-orange, and his muscles were pronounced, but not frighteningly so. His hair was tousled just a little and his demeanor was gentle and sleepy and vulnerable, and it is suddenly all too clear to her that what she’s been feeling for him for quite some time now is not platonic. Not quite, anyway.

“Oh,” was all Dirk managed to reply with, his mind still lagging too far behind to make a competent response.

Eyes only half open, he looked over at Jane in the little bit of light from the television screen. Dirk raised an eyebrow in a silent question of ‘what?’ when he saw her looking at him, but didn’t really think much of why she would be. Standing up, he stretched out his arms and neck which had gotten a little tense from laying sideways on a couch. “Alright, off to bed we go, then,” he muttered, not really at Jane, but just speaking to fill the room.

Walking into his room, Dirk simply rolled onto his bed, stopping at the other side, so that Jane could lay down.

Shuffling after him, Jane was awfully confused, and trying desperately to calm down. She was pretty certain all of the stuff she had felt and thought had been platonic, or…maybe a diversion away from her crush on Jake. But things were over now, and… and now… now what? They weren’t vanishing.

She wiggled under his covers in bed, and curled up a little, cautiously (and unconsciously) scooting toward him for warmth and comfort and support. She didn’t know what she was feeling, but she knew she was tired, and that sleep might clear her head a little.

Or at least get her to stop thinking about this.

Feeling the slight movement towards him, Dirk opened his eyes halfway and looked over at her. With a sleepy laugh, he rolled over and put his arm around her. “If you wanted to cuddle, you could’ve just asked,” he chuckled, pulling her close to him, her head under his chin.

Feeling the ease of her breath on his chest and the gentle warmth forming between them, Dirk quickly fell back asleep.

The two slept through the night and well into morning, where Jane lay awake staring down at Dirk, motionless, for what felt like forever, but was only about twenty minutes. He rose eventually, after several more mini catnaps, and they ate together as usual.

Jane was dropped back off at home and a few days went by, talking over Pesterchum and swimming in Dirk’s pool for a few hours at a time, until she invited him back over for dinner.

She was kind of pacing round eagerly, long ago done with her part in dinner, and waiting for him to ring her bell.

Getting out of his car, Dirk pondered the last two weeks he’d spent almost near constantly with Jane. In that space of time, he’d actually been forced to eat proper meals and sleep came easily when Jane was by him. The effect was that Dirk actually felt pretty good. He’d been so used to being tired and hungry, he’d forgotten what normal, healthy levels were like.

Knocking on Jane’s door, Dirk was happy to have her forcing him to take care of himself.

Jane’s chest was tight and her stomach was fluttery as she went to answer the door. She opened it, and immediately became ten times more self-aware. She wished she had dressed better, in only jeans and a nice blouse, but realized belatedly that it was stupid for her to think that. This was her own home, a casual dinner, and Dirk was her friend in jeans and a t-shirt for crying out loud.

“Hey! Good to see you made it.” she beamed, shutting the door after him and giving him a tight hug. “How’re you feeling?”

Dirk couldn’t help but smile back at Jane, accepting her hug easily. “I’ve never been better,” he replied, and he was despite another sleepless night.

Something that hadn’t gone unnoticed by Dirk was the pattern of only giving up to unconsciousness when he slept with Jane. At this realization, he had to acknowledge that maybe he didn’t sleep, because he didn’t feel safe. As for why Jane might make him feel safe, Dirk was completely at a loss.

“Hope your dinner for tonight can match up to the one I had the last time I was here.”

Getting seated at the table, the three of them proceeded to have an excellent dinner, which seemed to be of the Italian cuisine that night. Afterwards, Mr. Crocker bid them a good night and left the two to discuss whatever they may wish.

“Right, soooo, what do you wanna do?” Jane asked, with a big smile on her face, feeling content and full after the large dinner and good conversation. “Movies, internet, uhhh- we could go in the little hot tub sorta thing, er.” she wrinkled up her nose. “There’s videogames, too, but we both know how terrible I am at them.”

She shifted in her seat across from him, obviously really just happy to spend time with him yet again. She had started coming to grips with the fact that she was … _probably_ in “like” with Dirk or something. But she was convinced it was leftover from Jake.

“Hot tub?” he inquired, eyebrows rising at the idea. “You use my pool all of the damn time, it’s only fair.”

Dirk didn’t have any swim trunks at Jane’s house and he wasn’t about to ask to borrow her dad’s, but then again, since when had that stopped him.

“Pft! Well, okay. But you’ll have to uh, swim in… your own stuff, cos I doubt anything I have is gonna fit you. Unless you wanna wear a bikini,” she teased, before showing him to the back door and out to the lit hot tub. It was pretty dark out already, and although the night was warm, she knew it would feel good anyway.

She also was kind of shamelessly looking forward to seeing him shirtless again.

“Get on in and I’ll be right back. This time I have a bathing suit!”

“Jane, you know damn well I would rock the shit out of a bikini,” he replied, following her out into the backyard.

Seeing the hot tub, Dirk gave a slight nod in approval. After Jane had disappeared back inside, Dirk stripped himself of his shirt and jeans, leaving him in his boxers. He didn’t really know what to do with himself afterwards, but decided going commando in jeans wasn’t the worst thing he had done. Slowly stepping into the water, Dirk gave a happy sigh as he sat down into the hot tub. It was easy to find himself comfortable while he waited for Jane.

Jane gave an attractive snort at his jest, and left him to his own devices, before slipping into her room and beginning to… well, kind of flutter about nervously. She had a variety of swimsuits, and of course, Dirk had already seen her in the least amount of clothing she’d dare wear. She rooted through her clothes until she found the unused, brand spanking new swimsuit Roxy had bought for her- a bikini indeed, a little bit … more enticing than her undergarments had been that day, but she realized now that Dirk was really the only one she’d ever feel comfortable wearing it around, since he’d already seen her in a state of undress.

She tried her best not to think about it, as she pulled it on and grabbed towels, holding them tightly against her body even as she stepped outside and joined him.

“Well, look who got all cozy while I was gone.”

Looking over at her, he gave a lazy shrug. “It’s a fucking hot tub, Crocker. What else am I gonna do?”

Dirk could see how uncomfortable she was, though, and it made him kind of disheartened. He understood that she was too self-aware over her body type, but the fact that she still was even in front of him made him a bit sad. “Go ahead and put those towels down and join me,” he told her, taking off his shades and closing his eyes, hoping that would put her more at ease.

Except that he was listening for her footsteps and waited for her to get to the edge of the tub before flicking them open.

Jane really couldn’t help it, but little did he know, everything was easier with him as opposed to anyone else. She set the towels down and slipped into the tub, feeling better under bubbles that distorted her image anyway, and settled in comfortably about a foot away from him on the other end of the bench.

“Oh, it’s nice in here.”

Looking over at her, Dirk could only manage a soft “yeah” in response, his body relaxing in the heat of the tub. After a few seconds of silence, though, he randomly spoke up.

“I’m really fucking glad that we started hanging out.”

“Aww. Yeah, I am, too. Summer’s never been more fun.” she beamed, and it was true. The summer previous to this one had been honestly really awful, everyone had been way too busy getting used to life in college as opposed to high school. But now, Jane was acclimated and things were a bit easier.

“I think Roxy’s getting a little jealous, though. Says you might be replacing her as a “BFFSY”. Of course, I told her, never- but you and I do hang out quite a bit more than I hang out with Rox. She’s always so caught up in her own stuff…”

Dirk had to give a small chuckle at that. “Yeah, she probably has more irons in the fire than I do. Same with Jake,” he paused for a second, worried that he’d accidentally brought up something he shouldn’t have, but decided it was too late to back track now. “Man’s got a business he has to learn how to run and he doesn’t have any fucking time to go adventuring with us.”

Deciding to change the subject, he leaned his head back and looked up at the night sky. “Thankfully, you aren’t too busy to deal with my shit.”

It wasn’t all as sensitive as she thought it would be, when he brought up Jake, but she did inwardly wince just a bit. She watched him look up at the sky, and then did so in return, examining the stars as she spoke.

“No, not at all. Never.” she said softly, “You’ve always been trying to make me a better person. Reach my full potential. I will always make time for you.”

He pulled his elbows up onto the edge of the pool, then broke his gaze from the sky to look quizzically over at her. “I know I’ve been schooling you in the ways of the many layered ironic lifestyle, but… Thanks. I like being there for you,” Dirk shrugged. “If it means anything, you make me want to take care of myself. Can’t be there to prevent shit from happening if I don’t.”

Jane let out a laugh at this, and she felt at ease enough to scoot in against his side and rest her head against his shoulder. “I’m happy. I want you to last for a long time, Dirk. You’re important.” she sighed, shutting her eyes half-way and trying to push down the butterflies starting to flutter in her stomach and float up into her chest.

He let her move in closer, placing his arm around her shoulder once she came close enough. “It means a whole fucking lot to hear you say that. So don’t you dare go and give up on me, either.”

Placing his head on hers, Dirk closed his eyes and focused on the sensation of the steam from the hot tub finding its way up his neck. They stayed that way for a while until Dirk realized that he was on the urge of giving into dozing off, something that was not recommended for someone who was in a hot tub. Lifting his head, Dirk started to remove his arm from around her. “As fucking awesome as this is, I think we should get out.”

Jane heaved a little sigh and nodded, shifting away from him. With the lateness of the hour and how relaxed she was, she forgot insecurity, and hefted herself out of the pool without trying to hide the way she really looked. She picked up her own towel and began to dry her body off, wondering if she could get him to stay.

He watched her get out, water flowing down her body. In all honesty, Dirk couldn’t really see what she got all hung up about. It was true she wasn’t that “ideal size,” whatever the fuck that meant, but it was purely Jane and he couldn’t imagine her any other way.

Standing up after her, Dirk turned away from her for a moment to try and squeeze out all of the excess water from his boxers so that it wouldn’t cling. Walking up next to her, Dirk picked up the towel that he was supposed to use and gave a quick wipedown, not really caring if he was still just a little bit wet. It wasn’t cold out, so there wasn’t any reason for him to be thorough.

Wrapping the towel around his waist, Dirk was finally faced with the problem that he didn’t have any dry boxers to change into and he would much prefer to not go commando in his jeans. Although, if it was just from her house to his place, the discomfort wouldn’t be for too long. First things first, though.

“I’m gonna change out of my boxers really quick, can I use your restroom?” he asked her, picking up his shirt and jeans.

“Oh, yeah, sure. Uh, if you- if you want, you can borrow some of my Dad’s old stuff, there’s a big box he’s been meaning to take to charity—” she wrapped the towel around herself, and adjusted her foggy glasses. “I know he won’t mind, I think he’s already forgotten to take them.”

Dirk weighed whether or not he wanted to put on the old Crocker’s undergarments. “Uh, nah, I think I’m good,” he finally replied, not really thinking that taking charity underwear was a good plan. “I think I can take being commando for a little while.”

That said, Dirk headed back into the house and made his way to the hallway bathroom. Pulling off the towel and stepping out of his wet boxers, he pulled on his pants and shirt before stepping out. Holding onto the damp towel, his boxers hanging over his arm, Dirk looked around for Jane to see where he should put the towel.

Jane had come inside, and found him as he wandered out of the bathroom. She gestured for him to follow, and headed for her laundry room, taking his boxers and his towels from him, shoving them in the drier and doing the same with her own. In the short time he’d taken, she’d thrown on pajamas.

“Whoops, guess you gotta stay till they’re dry now,” she smirked.

He raised his eyebrows in amusement. “Was that your conniving plan all along? Ensnare me by holding my poor damsel briefs as hostage?”

Grinning mischievously, Dirk approached her, moving so as to back her up against a wall. “Guess that would make you the old witch who it seems I must vanquish.”

With that, Dirk began to tickle her sides, not letting her dart away from him.

Jane’s back hit the wall and her breath caught in her throat. He was close and he was warm and she wanted so badly to grab onto him and kiss him. It frightened her to think that she had pushed her feelings so far that now she was imagining Dirk putting her in compromising positions on purpose, but she was assured that once he and Jake became an item, it would all be okay…right?

But when he began to tickle her, she gave a squeal of delight and squirmed about, pushing at his hands and arching her body away from the wiggling fingertips. She was incredibly ticklish, and her ‘HOO HOO’s finally came full-force into the room as she laughed harder and harder.

Not wanting Jane’s dad to think that he was laughing his daughter to death, Dirk suddenly stopped and leaned an arm against the wall behind her. By this time, he was laughing too, the sound of her “hoo’s” simply too infectious to completely ignore. Simmering down, Dirk simply smiled down at her, a flush in her cheeks he assumed came from his tickling.

“I presume the witch has had enough, then?” he tilted his head in question before leaning back away from her. “So. What do you wanna do while my poor princess boxers suffer their fate?”

“Hmmmmm…” Jane sighed, catching her breath only to lose it again. He was so close to her, she could see the little cracks in his lips and the softness to his eyes when he spoke to her. She wanted to melt. “Let’s just go lay down. Relax, you know?” Yes. Quietly goad him into sleeping with her.

“Really,” Dirk raised an eyebrow, just a tad suspicious as she had never simply suggested laying down before. “And where exactly did you want to go lay down?”

“My room, of course. The bed is easily the most comfortable spot,” she shrugged off how awkward that must have sounded. Let’s go lay in my bed while your boxers dry, Dirk.

She slipped out of his arms, under them, and headed for the stairs without waiting for his affirmative, just trusting he’d agree and follow, or disagree and say something.

Dirk wasn’t sure whether he decided he was surprised or not. Normally he would’ve passed it off simply as sort of strange, but Jane was aware that his boxers were currently in the dryer and that made her wish to go to her bed rather unusual for her. Still, he followed after her, not saying anything.

Up the stairs, Dirk halted at the entrance of Jane’s bedroom, leaning against the doorframe instead of following inside. He had a bit of mixed feelings about this. So far they’d only slept together in his bed and he was comfortable with that, because that was his territory, of sorts. They’d also never simply lain in a bed just to lay in it, they’d always end up falling asleep.

Not that he objected at all, Dirk knew that if he went home he’d be doing the opposite of going to sleep. Still, he decided to test Jane’s intentions a little. His face eased into the sharp gaze of practiced unreadability and when he spoke Dirk was as flat toned as possible. “Are you trying to seduce me?”

Jane stopped dead as she was in the process of walking toward her bed, frozen and staring at the sheets. Where had that come from? Did he know? Was she being obvious _again?_ Fuck!

“No,” she turned to him, disliking the sudden image of displaced unreadability he usually dropped around her. “Haha, seriously Dirk, _seducing_ you? I thought we already discovered whom I’ve got feelings for.”

He inwardly flinched at the last sentence and dropped his gaze to the floor, hands in his pockets. “Yeah. I know,” he stated simply. “But, I sorta meant ‘seduce’ as in you’re trying to get me to sleep with you in the sleepover kind of way.”

“Oh, jeeze, you should’ve been more clear,” she scolded, sitting down on the edge of her bed and shrugging too sweetly. “I just wanna hang out with you. Lay around. If you don’t want to, I guess you could go…” her expression became forlorn, and it was obvious she was guilty of doing exactly what he was accusing her of.

“Wait. You’re assuming that I don’t want to,” he said, switching back into his playful tone of voice. “Besides, if it turns out that you do want me to spend the night, all you’d have to do is ask.” Looking back up at her, Dirk felt bad for messing with her, seeing that it had caused her some sort of distress.

Jane instantly brightened, and reached out with both hands, making sort of grabby-hands motions at him and nodding. “Yes, you should spend the night, I’d like that a lot,” she beamed, sort of squirming in her place. She was obviously pleased that his reaction was positive.

Dirk grinned and shook his head at the grabbing motions Jane started making. Pushing himself off of her doorframe, he finally stepped into her bedroom and walked toward her, leaning down to allow Jane to grab onto him. He kept his hands in his pockets to show that if she wanted him, she was going to have to pull him down herself.

It was … basically torture, for Jane who wanted so badly to act on the weird feelings she was experiencing, but she didn’t want to let on. She gave a whine to show she realized he was being difficult, but, she did as he wanted. She wrapped her arms around him and tried desperately to pull and pull, but his muscle mass was a bit different, heavier than her own, and unfortunately the best she could do was roll him on top of her.

Landing on top of her, Dirk just sort of laughed a little, letting himself lie there for a while. Except then he started noticing how warm and soft she was against him, and it unnerved him. So Dirk allowed himself to be pushed aside and rolled over onto his back next to her.

“So,” he sighed into the room. “Now we just lay here?”

Jane’s body locked up as he lay on top of her, and she longed to wrap her arms around him and keep him there. It was hurting now, knowing he could only reciprocate Jake’s affections.

“Go to sleep.” she corrected, scooting into him despite her fluttery tummy and resting her head low on his chest, giving a little yawn of her own.

He was about to ask whether they should at least wait for his boxers to dry, but stopped when he looked down and saw how comfortable she looked curled up against him. Exhaling in defeat, Dirk wrapped his free arm around her and gently rubbed her back. Quiet now, he was able to take in the overwhelming scent of Jane all around him, her bed like the fluffiest pastry. Combined with the gentle warmth of Jane against him, Dirk easily gave into her command of sleep. Wearing pants to bed, however, gave him a slight side effect of restless legs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr: http://fyeahjanedirk.tumblr.com/post/30909256049/a-dirkjane-rp-turned-long-enough-to-be-a#notes-container


	5. Ferris Wheel of Feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dirk and Jane go to a fair and Dirk realizes feelings.

Jane wasn’t troubled by most things in sleep, and so had no qualms about his restless legs through the night. In the morning, she woke slow and easy the way she always did when she was in Dirk’s arms on her way to sleep.

Once she opened her eyes, she was smiling. Her cheek still pressed to his chest, her nose pointed south and her hand curled up into the side of his ribs, she started to get a clearer view of the world around her. Soon enough, she was able to see the blue of his denim jeans, and then…oh.

Oh. Those were…really low on his hips, suddenly. Her eyes scanned the lines of his pelvic region, dipping and making her follow them down alongside a trail of soft blonde hair, stopping abruptly where his pants had kept him hidden in the most important of spots. Her face flushed instantly, as she realized that she was just _checking out_ his hips and wondering things about his _crotch_ , and unfortunately, she shifted without thought against him, with her eyes pinned there and her breathing terse.

Feeling movement against him, Dirk’s eyes flickered open and, figuring out that Jane was the one squirming against him, decided she must’ve woken before him, as usual. So, he moved onto his back and, unaware of the current position of his pants, began to stretch, his back lifting slightly off of her bed. Putting his hands behind his head, Dirk finally looked down at Jane and… totally caught her staring at his pelvic area.

Instead of attempting to fix the placement of his pants, which he had finally realized were a tad too low, Dirk broke out laughing. Removing his hands from his head, he sat up on his elbows to look at Jane better. “Fuck, Jane,” he said, taking a break from laughing. “I didn’t realize even you could be a pervert.”

Jane struggled to hold back a gasp as she felt and watched his back arch off the bed. He looked _amazing_. His hips lifted and she got to watch the shift of his hip bones, and she was the deepest shade of crimson when he _pointed it out_ and then he didn’t move.

She hurried to sit up, and swallowed the lump in her throat. “I’m not a _pervert_ , this is how I woke up!” she insisted. “My eyes were just focusing, they’re all bleary without my glasses early in the morning.” but something inside her sort of churned with the idea that Dirk could not see her as a sexual person. She had desires, too.

“No need to make any excuses, Jane,” Dirk grinned smugly. “I know how fucking fine my bod is.”

Deciding that he needn’t cause her any more distress, her cheeks quite a stunning shade of red, Dirk lifted his hips again to lift his pants up to their usual height around his waist. Feeling strangely cuddly after flustering her, he turned back on his side and pulled her back into his. Holding her tightly, Dirk felt this strange need to hold onto her forever. The thought was quickly dismissed as a post-sleep desire and he gave a sigh.

Jane gave a puff out of her cheeks, pouting, but it didn’t last long. He was soon dragging her back into him, and she listened to him sigh, and she cherished how relaxed he seemed. She stared at his upper arm cradling her, and ran her fingers down his muscles slowly, admiring them almost reverently.

“You practice a lot, don’t you?” she asked, “With- with your silly swords, and all that.” She knew better than to call them ‘silly swords’, but hey, he could only do so much when they were cuddling.

Feeling fingers along his arms, Dirk looked down at her and watched her fingers trace over his muscles, oddly entranced by the motion. He was pretty sure that the only other person who had done so was Roxy, but even then it had been in a playful manner and not as… admiring as Jane seemed to be. Interestingly he felt pleased about this, but couldn’t really figure out why.

“Silly?” he huffed with false indignance. “I appreciate your attempt at alliteration, but you could’ve at least settled for ‘super’ or some other synonym for ‘fucking awesome.’ It’s not like I insult your cookware.”

“Please, that’s because my cookware provides delicious results.” She teased back, although her mind supplied that his swords provided delicious results, too. She had to blink hard and shake the thought away with a tiny motion of her head.

“Dad wants me to learn ‘some form of self-defense’.” she muttered. “I dunno what to do; I’ve never really been one for all the discipline of martial arts.”

“Is this your way of asking for my assistance?” he smirked a little in response. “Because you know you only need to ask, I’ve never been one to refuse you.”

“Pft.” She scoffed, though her face did heat up and she did sort of half-bury her face into his chest. She rest her hand, still and light, on his bicep, thinking it over. Asking Dirk to help her learn some method of self-defense sounded pretty gosh darn innocent, and despite the fact that she would be embarrassed if she didn’t catch onto everything quickly, well…it seemed like a good way to pass time and make her Dad happy.

“I guess I am. You’re the most reasonable teacher. I wouldn’t trust Jake of all people to teach me how to defend myself.” She half-snorted, completely unattractively, at the idea of asking Jake to help her. He’d put a gun in her hand and let her go crazy.

He smiled openly when she tucked her head into his chest, his other hand coming up to ruffle her hair playfully. Dirk started, though, when Jane mentioned Jake. In truth, the man had completely slipped his mind. That wasn’t weird was it? It also couldn’t be weird that there might be an inkling of jealousy at the thought of Jake and Jane hanging out by themselves.

Dirk forced himself to chuckle a little in response, focusing on the small snort that Jane had emitted. “True enough. Roxy wouldn’t be too bad of an idea, either,” he offered. “She’s actually got a mean swing. Although her fighting methods are a bit unorthodox and she’d get a bit too distracted with other topics than actually teaching.”

“Yeah, a bit.” Jane agreed, “She also relies pretty heavily on tough talk, which I’m…not really the best at. I mean, sass, sure! I got plenty of sass to frass, but not the same… _way_ as Rox.” she shrugged.

“We should do that tomorrow- I mean, if you’re free. I don’t want to bug or interrupt or anything.” she realized, suddenly, that she was monopolizing a lot of his time. “I - I mean, we do have other friends, and things to do, I’m sure. I don’t want to become one of _those_ people.”

“Please, Jane. First of all, I would always make time for you. Second, I don’t do shit, you know that.” He grinned through his words, though. “There’s nothing wrong with wanting to hangout all the time. Besides, if the others wanted to meet up they’d say something.”

He squeezed her to him a little tighter for a second. “Should we get up now?” he asked. “You’re always getting up early; I wouldn’t want to drag you into my catnap schedule.”

“You don’t sleep nearly as much as you should, I don’t mind your catnap schedule, even if it messes mine up just a bit time to time,” she admitted, pulling one of his hands up into the air and pressing their palms together, measuring the size of their hands.

Hers was so small in comparison, fingers much shorter, but still kind of lean, seeing as she was a piano player. She felt the callouses pressed against her mostly-smooth skin, and thought about him gripping leather-covered handles and wrenches and weights. She liked the contrast, it wasn’t too extreme, but it was large enough for her to be pleased with the aesthetics. She had her fair share of weathered hands from dishwashing and baking, after all.

Dirk allowed her to take his hand and stared intently at the difference between the two of them. Feeling the small warmth of her palm, he found himself having to fight the urge to interlock his fingers with hers. Ignoring that small feeling, Dirk raised an eyebrow and looked down into Jane’s face, wondering what she was thinking. “You like what you see?” he teased.

“Pft, yeah, big strong _man hands_.” She swooned overdramatically, pressing at his hand a little and bending it back before dropping her own and sighing. “Are you gonna take another nap, or are you gonna eat some breakfast?” she asked, settling her hand back on his arm and looking right up at him this time.

He grinned at her dramatic swoon and placed his hand back to his side. “It’s your house, Crocker. If you get up, I’ll get up,” he shrugged, meeting her gaze. He avoided mentioning that if she got up he wouldn’t be able to sleep anyways.

“Although I guess we probably should get up,” he continued. “You’re used to eating breakfast and also-” Dirk paused and looked down at his pants. “I think I’d like to put on my boxers.”

“I….yes. Um. Yes, let’s- get up. Then.”

Obviously, Jane had completely forgotten about his lack of underclothes. She hurried to wiggle out of bed, and stood, stretching for a few seconds, before wandering out of the room and going to fetch his boxers for him. It was just common courtesy- and besides that, the laundry room wasn’t far from the kitchen.

A smirk crossed Dirk’s face at her slightly flustered demeanor as she remembered that he was currently going commando. Releasing her from his hold, he let her out of his arms and sat up to stretch himself out, too. Then, he followed her out of her room, waiting for Jane to pass him his boxers so he could go put them on.

“Here you are.” Jane reached in and grabbed out his boxers, holding them out without really paying much attention. She was looking around a little, taking inventory of the supply of detergent and the very pronounced absence of any of her father’s usual touches. Weird, he always did laundry early in the morning, leaving his ties out to dry…

“Meet me in the kitchen?” she asked, although she didn’t wait for an answer before heading for said room in her home.

Dirk nodded vaguely in response, simply accepting his boxers. Walking back out to the hallway bathroom, he changed quickly, not wanting Jane to just hang by herself for too long. Except he remembered that he’d left his sunglasses out by the hot tub, so he ran out to grab them really quick, placing them on his face before skedaddling back inside. Feeling comfortable once more, Dirk entered the kitchen. “What’s cookin’, good lookin’?” he greeted nonchalantly.

“Bacon, eggs, toast- paranoia…” she mumbled the last bit, as she bent over and rooted around in her refrigerator for the eggs and bacon.”Dad hasn’t made a peep. Usually he’s up and about doing chores and stuff. It’s worrisome.”

“Do you want me to go and check up on him?” Dirk offered, his eyebrows coming together to show his concern. “A serious dude like him not keepin’ to his schedule is awfully suspicious.

“Or I could attempt to watch over the cooking. It should only take you a few minutes, right? I couldn’t catch anything on fire that quick. I hope.”

“Yeah, let’s- you should stay here with the stuff.” she said thoughtfully, obviously quite concerned, herself. “If he isn’t coming out, it might be because he’s not sure what to do. I haven’t had a boy overnight in a very long time.” she turned quite the shade of red and bustled away before she could hear any remarks or see any facial expressions from him, and she headed for her father’s room with the bacon sizzling in the pan and the toast in the toaster.

His eyebrows rose in amusement as she bustled out of the kitchen, his eyes catching a glimpse of her reddening face. Jane was always a bit confusing to him. She could take his innuendoes like a champ, but when it came to things like this, she got more than just a little flustered. Turning his attention to the bacon, Dirk set about making sure the food didn’t burn up rather than what exactly a “thing like this” really entailed.

When Jane returned from speaking with her father, she looked quite flushed indeed, even in comparison to when she had left. She gently nudged Dirk’s arms away from her workspace, and went about her business, only speaking after a few seconds of silence had passed.

“He just didn’t know what was going on, wanted to be sure it was alright to come out and such. But he probably won’t be downstairs for a little while, you may be gone.”

He had asked if she had ‘at least used protection’. She was mortified.

Dirk scooted out of her way silently, not really sure what to make of Jane’s flustered state, her face redder than he’d seen before. However, he waited quietly until she finally explained herself. When she did, he promptly brought a hand over his mouth to hide his amusement, but failed to actually keep it contained.

“Good ol’ dad,” he said, still laughing into his hand. Yet, a tiny bit of him considered the idea of the two of them in bed together before quickly being dismissed, trying to forget that he had entertained the idea at all.

Leaning back on the counter next to the stove that Jane was cooking at, he tilted his head. “Did you attempt to explain or just scamper out of there?”

“Jeeze, no, I explained!” She said, with a bit of an indignant tone in her voice, as she moved to plate the bacon and start on the eggs. “I don’t- I don’t want him to think _that_. We’re friends, but, um.” she cleared her throat and shook her head.

“ _Anyway,_ there’s jam and butter and all that in the fridge. You can pick out what you’d like on your toast and grab it.”

In that moment, Dirk didn’t know what exactly came over him. All he knew was that Jane was adorable with her face all red and her flustered demeanor. So, on his way to the fridge, he wrapped an arm around her waist gently, so as not to inhibit any of her motions at the stove, and placed his lips to her temple. Not to kiss, just to apply pressure of some sort, his own meaning in the action lost to him.

He held her there for a few seconds before letting go of her just as suddenly. From there, Dirk practically stuck his head in the fridge, hiding his face from Jane with the door. He contemplated on what type of condiments he wanted while waiting for the strange heat on his face to dissipate.

Pulling back out of the fridge, Dirk nonchalantly went back to the table as if nothing had happened, placing his choices down on the table. “Would it be okay if I set up the table?” he asked, his expression quite blank.

Jane nearly let the eggs burn, she was so shocked. His actions were unexpected, and really intimate, even for their weird platonic relationship. She hurried to turn the egg over and nodded briskly as he asked if he could set the table. Her skin tingled where his lips had touched, and her heart jumped into her throat.

Oh, she had it _bad._

“Yeah! Of course, uh, sure. The silverware - in those drawers there, and the cups and stuff are over in the cupboards to my left,” she muttered.

Nodding amiably, he went to all of the places that she had gestured to and efficiently set up the table. He worked silently, not really sure what to say for the first time in a while.

Finishing, Dirk walked back over to the stove area, hands in pockets. “You almost done?” he asked, reaching out in question towards one of the plates of food. “No rush or anything, just wondering.”

“Yeah, nearly through.” She hummed, back to comfort and stability. She had really thought too much on things, she decided, and pushed it all out of her mind. “You can take that one, it’s yours.” she gestured to the plate of finished breakfast, toast plain and alongside eggs and bacon. “I’ll meet you there, hm?”

“Fuckin’ sweet,” he drawled back, taking the plate she had pointed out to him. Sitting down, Dirk waited patiently for Jane to take her place next to him, drawing out the process of putting butter on his toast.

Jane came out a few seconds later, joining him at the table and digging in without delay, putting honey on her own toast and going to speak, but promptly stopping. She heard the rushed footsteps of her father on his way down the stairs, and she checked the clock in the dining room. He was on time, but always acted rushed.

“Morning Janey,” the fedora-clad man smiled, breezing past her with a kiss to her head, and then turning to Dirk. “Good morning, Mister Strider. Always a pleasure to have you over.” and with that, he looked to Jane again. “Did you by any chance leave something for me?”

“Yeah, of course, Dad. Uh. Some bacon and toast. In the kitchen.” she struggled to speak, not making eye-contact, and it was obvious she was flustered all over again.

The man vanished into the kitchen, but soon enough came back with the bacon between his toast and a napkin around the ‘sandwich’. “So, plans for the day?” he asked, as he stood and re-adjusted his tie. He was only stalling, and that was obvious.

“No, nothing really, I think Dirk is just going to go home after breakfast…” she was quick to say.

“Oh, well, alright then. I thought you’d be interested in visiting the faire in town, since it closes up in a few days, but maybe that’s a bit too much,” he winked, and picked up his briefcase, along with his breakfast, before making for the door.

“Information’s on the third page of the paper, I left it in the kitchen for you. Goodbye, Jane, I’ll see you later. I love you- and I’m so, so proud of you.” and with that, he shut the door after himself.

Jane exhaled loudly.

Dirk gave a curt salute to Mr. Crocker’s greeting, his mouth full of egg and toast. A smirk formed on his face, however, when he saw Jane give her dad an awkward reply, realizing just what she was thinking of. Still, he had to admit that his ears reddened a bit at her dad’s comment on the faire idea. What was up with that? It really shouldn’t be that big of a deal at all, they were getting into adulthood now. Such comments should hardly cause a blip on his radar.

Mr. Crocker’s farewell brought Dirk back down, though, thoughts suddenly flitting to the figure of his brother. It never stopped happening, the strange dark feelings of resentment when he encountered Jane and her father. But as always, Dirk just shrugged it off, moving his attention back to Jane’s face.

“Hey, I like your dad,” he began after her exhale. “Besides, despite his, uh, assumptions, the faire is an idea worth considering. I’ve never been.” He shrugged, continuing eating.

“He can…be a bit much, but, I like him too,” she muttered, finishing her breakfast and then glancing over at the kitchen, curious, until Dirk said he’d never been to the faire.

“Wait, what? You’ve never been to the faire?!” she gasped, getting up immediately and fetching the paper. She sat back down and opened it up, finding the page. “Yeah, then we’re going right away. You should go home and get cleaned up though- I know you love your legendary three hour showers. Let’s see— it opens at noon, six dollar admission, same fairgrounds as always…I think we should go.” she smiled as she looked from the paper to Dirk. “What do you think?”

“Uh,” he droned for a bit, startled a bit by her enthusiasm. “Yeah, sure. I don’t see why not.”

Shrugging, Dirk scooped the last bit of his breakfast in his mouth. He wondered how crowded it would be, not quite sure when the last time he had gone outside for an event of some sort. His brother was a bit well known on the red carpet, after all, and he couldn’t keep everyone out of his private life.

It was true in the past that Dirk had used this fact about himself to his advantage, getting people to do as he wanted. Never for anything particularly devious and he had rationalized that they were attempting to use him in a bit of a different way. Still, he preferred not to bring it up.

“Do you want me to come back here when I’m done getting ready to pick you up?”

“That’d be great, yeah! Thanks.” Jane had honestly forgotten entirely about how famous Dave was. She had been best friends with Dirk for ages now, his brother never really came around, so she tended to be oblivious to how prominent he was in the media- she really only paid attention to the specific things she liked, and to be frank, Dave’s stuff was not at all what she liked.

“Cool. See you a bit after noon, then.” That said, the two of them finished their breakfast, cleaned up, and then said their temporary farewells.

Arriving back at his apartment, Dirk promptly began one of his infamous showers, reflecting a little bit on what Jane’s father had assumed. It really shouldn’t have been anything worth mulling over, but something about it just… nagged at him. Like he was missing something obvious. Still, he was eager to ignore it, not enjoying the thought that there was something he was missing.

Almost four hours later, he found himself in his complex’s parking garage with a dead battery. Apparently in his haste to prepare for this afternoon, Dirk had forgotten to turn off some of his lights. “Holy fucking shit, I don’t have time for this,” he muttered quickly to himself, running back to the elevator to retrieve his other mode of transport’s keys. After their retrieval, Dirk straddled his motorcycle with a practiced grace and kicked it into ignition.

Back at Jane’s door, Dirk straightened out his leather jacket a bit, as well as his hair. Knocking, he wondered if she’d be okay with the unplanned change of transport. Maybe he should’ve called ahead? Oh well. He hoped she at least had some sort of clothing that was suitable.

Jane was luckily pretty prepared to ride a bike- on complete accident. She had originally planned to wear something cute and sweet, a sundress for the nice weather, but remembering that the faire usually was paved with dirt and there were always swarms of people, she opted for jeans instead. Little red sneakers on her feet and a few layers of sheer fabric making up her shirt (which she made entirely sure were not see through!), she answered the door and blinked a few times at Dirk’s heavy leather jacket.

She hadn’t paid it much notice before, but it was a tiny bit warm out (not that there wouldn’t be a slight chill later in the evening), and she certainly thought a bit harder on it now that he showed up wearing it. She liked the way it made his shoulders even more full, and the general appearance of leather was something she liked on most people anyway.

“Hey! Ready to go, I assume?” she asked brightly, stepping out and shutting the door behind her, locking it to boot.

Dirk backed out of the doorway to allow Jane past and gave a curt nod. “Yeah. Although, uh, I had a few problems with the automobile, so I’m afraid I had to opt out for a different mode of transport,” he explained, gesturing to the bike behind him.

The motorcycle was in the typical sleek Strider fashion, and since Dirk had practically custom built his, its appearance vaguely reflected that of his infamous shades. Most of the bike’s body made up with black angles with the occasional orange accent. “Hope you don’t mind,” he continued, walking over to it, kicking the stand back up.

“Oh, boy.” she heaved a long sigh, overdramatic, obviously, and trailed after him, admiring the bike. She’d been on it before- when he had first completed it, he had taken everyone for a ride. Jake had even attempted to drive it, but that idea was shut down very quickly.

“I _suppose_ I don’t mind.” she smiled, moving up toward the bike and sliding onto the back edge of the seat as far as she could. “Do you ever even use it? I mean, it looks like it’s in perfect condition even now.” Not that that really said much. Dirk took care of his stuff like gold.

Pausing at her question, Dirk picked up the helmet and held it out to her. “You know I don’t get out much,” he stated simply in reply.

“Take the helmet. Can’t disappoint your father, you know.” He easily straddled the bike and started it up with a well-practiced motion. Then, he paused, half turning his head towards Jane, waiting for her to wrap her arms around him expectantly. Strangely, he found himself looking forward to it.

Jane gave a bit of a pout, but put on the helmet as he directed, wrapping her arms around his middle and leaning forward slightly. It was a close fit- and Jane’s body was pressed right against his. She drowned in the way it felt to be close to him with an excuse- ugh, this was getting out of hand, how much she liked things like this.

Feeling her settle against him, Dirk gave a light reassuring pat to Jane’s hands against his stomach before turning his attention back to the road in front of him.

Dirk had looked up where the faire was held while he was at home, so he got the both of them to their destination without any mishaps. From the amount of cars in the surrounding area, it seemed that the faire was really quite popular, much to Dirk’s dismay. At the least, though, his motorcycle was easy to find a place a spot to park it close to the fairgrounds.

Unfortunately, his motorcycle attracted a few gazes and Dirk hoped that- nope. He could already see a few people leaning in towards each other whispering hastily to one another, their eyes darting obviously in his and Jane’s direction. Facial expressions were quickly shut off in preparation for whatever onslaught may follow.

Of course, while Jane had her own spot of fame, it was really only renowned when she was at specific events- cooking contests and the like, really- so she didn’t often get a chance to experience what it would be like to be stared at in such a way, whispered about- harassed. Of course, at first, she had received multiple threats on her life upon coming out as the heiress to Crocker corp, but nothing that continued into adulthood.

So she barely noticed, as she pulled off her helmet and gave an excited beam, staying close to Dirk on the bike until he would get off first. “I’m really excited to take you to your first fair, Dirk. I can’t believe you’ve never been! I know you’re not really that social, but gosh darnit, nobody can say no to the fair.”

Kicking out the kickstand, Dirk wordlessly dismounted before taking the helmet from her and hanging it off of the handlebars. “Not with your powers of persuasion,” he finally replied, offering her a hand to help her off the bike.

His voice was a bit hushed, though, eyes hidden behind dark shades quickly scanning the area, trying to assess his current situation. It was important to Dirk to stay ahead of whatever may head his way. Losing control of a situation made him feel a bit helpless and that was something that he couldn’t abide.

As he hadn’t been seen out in a public event for a great length of time, the fact that he had made an appearance, and with only one person in accompaniment, meant that assumptions were bound to be made. It was now merely a question of how to play it off.

Jane noticed his change in demeanor- but then, when didn’t she? She was pretty well-versed in the ways of Dirk, especially since they’d been spending lots of time together. She tried to observe what he was, but could not see very much out of the ordinary. Well, maybe some stares, but hey, they came in on a bike. That was bound to happen.

She took his hand and slipped off the vehicle, looking up at the gates to the faire with a big smile on her face. “Come on, let’s go!” she encouraged, grabbing at his wrist and tugging him forward with her.

It appeared that Jane had no idea what was happening around them. Or at least didn’t quite know what her actions were implying as seen through an outsider’s eyes. If it were anyone else leading him by the wrist, Dirk probably would’ve gone along with the crowd’s assumptions. He could practically read their lips, a few shocked expressions plainly showing how interested they were in his personal business. One girl even had a glare settled on Jane, an obvious indication that the business they were interested in were of the romantic sort.

Any other girl or guy and Dirk would’ve slid his fingers between the other’s without a second thought. He knew his effect on people and the probability that they would accept the gesture was very likely. But this was Jane. And he was simply at a loss of what to do.

She wouldn’t take lightly to any such advances. She _did_ have feelings for Jake, after all. Dirk’s thoughts paused for a moment. Shouldn’t his main concern be about what Jake would think of the matter? Since when had his priorities shifted? The thought perplexed him, and so he avoided it, quickly thinking on his other option of pushing the “just friends” card.

Except that he wasn’t willing to push Jane to a distance just for the sake of what people thought. In fact, screw what people thought. Dirk was here with a good friend and if some people wanted to get a bee in their bonnet over it then they were more than welcome to do so.

Jane, however, did not think at all as deeply as Dirk most of the time, especially not about the intensity of a friendship, and laced their fingers together tightly. She gave his hand a squeeze and began to ramble a bit about ticket prices, pulling him toward a booth that sold said tickets to ride attractions.

She barely noticed that their hands were still tightly together when they started moving forward in line, and to be frank, she was far too excited for the outing to notice much else but her surroundings.

It was obvious by Jane’s unfaltering behavior that she meant nothing by their interlocked fingers, which only confused Dirk all the more. Especially since the act had almost made him redden and that was something that just did not happen, and he’d be damned before anyone in public saw that.

Why had she taken his hand, anyway? Just to lead him around? As they stood in line, Dirk gave a mild cough in an effort to bring Jane’s attention to the matter. He knew he should probably be the one to let go, but… a part of him really didn’t want to.

Jane heard him cough, and she frowned, tilting her head ever-so slightly until she caught on.

“Oh! Oh, shoot, sorry. I guess I’m just really excited, not thinking!” she laughed nervously, as she carefully (but strangely slowly) untangled their fingers.

She clasped her hands tight behind her back and looked up at the ticket pricing menu above them. “We don’t need to go on _everything_ all at once, just the important ones…” she muttered to herself, while missing the warmth of Dirk’s hand in hers.

Once his hand was free he slipped it into his pocket, hunching a little to show indifference but really was missing the feel of her small hand in his. “It’s cool,” he replied nonchalantly, playing it off as no big deal.

“I’ll just follow your lead,” he replied, catching her words. “You’re obviously more experienced in the festivities than I am.”

As he spoke, he fidgeted and did another quick scan of the grounds, hoping that the appearance he made would be enough to deter anyone from approaching them. There usually was always one person who was ballsy enough to say something, it was usually just a matter of when.

The rest of the day went by rather smoothly. Bumper cars had been competitive, but there had been a lot of laughter, and they made a great tag team against older kids who were bullying younger ones. Jane won a stuffed animal at the watergun game and gave it away when Dirk refused to keep a magenta colored play snake with authentic hissing sounds.

The sun set quicker than she knew, after eating faire foods and listening to live bands, watching Dirk do decently at throwing darts, and then fail miserably at shooting basketballs through hoops. They went on a spinning ride and Jane felt sick for a while, and as the sun set they strolled to settle her stomach. She walked alongside him, in the gold-orange light of the end of a wonderful day.

“So, how do you like it so far?” Jane asked eagerly, “Everything lights up at night, when it’s much darker, and it looks ten times cooler then—- we should at least stay so you can see it all.”

“Well, it has certainly been more pleasant than I expected,” he replied, allowing a small smile tug at the edge of his lips. “Although my expectations for such events are rather low.”

Despite being said in good humor, it was the truth. He was about to voice his assent to staying later, but he felt a sharp tug at his other elbow. Surprised, Dirk turned to find himself looking at a young lady with wavy, auburn hair. The stranger’s eyes were locked onto his face and simply from the way she stood leaning towards him, Dirk could tell this girl was on the hunt and he was the target. Not that he was going to allow himself to become the prey.

“Oh my god, are you Dave Strider’s little brother?” the girl began and the sound grated against Dirk’s ears and his eyes narrowed the tiniest bit, in an attempt to warn the young girl to back off.

Obviously the point was not made when she simply laughed before continuing. “Well, not really little are you? You’ve got quite the build, huh?”

She sure moved fast was all Dirk really had to think about that, and he realized that her hand was still on his arm. This was obviously about to become a problem, and he attempted to slowly pull his arm away from the girl.

Jane bristled.

She felt the hairs on the back of her neck and arms stand on end, as she watched this girl lean in and compliment him. It reminded her of high school- but back then, she’d just laughed sort of sadly at these kinds of girls and watch as Dirk gently turned them away, if not a little awkwardly. Now, however, it was entirely different somehow. This advance- Jane didn’t like it, not one bit. A possessive surge of protectiveness overcame her, and she was tempted to step forward, but all too quickly she remembered that she was in no place to defend Dirk from a simple advance.

He wasn’t seeing anyone. He wasn’t her property. He had time for other people, she had to allow him that.

It was a shame that the girl had such a pushy personality, as her features were not unpleasant. But she was. And Dirk couldn’t help but feel annoyed when she paid no heed to his attempt to pull away from her and instead kept her hand where it was.

“Yeah, I guess,” he replied lamely, not wanting to give any encouragement to their conversation.

“My name’s Faith, by the way,” she continued anyway, much to Dirk’s displeasure. “Do you wanna perhaps get something to drink together?”

“Apologies, but I’m afraid I already have someone to accompany me,” he replied politely, when he really wanted to ask the girl if she was fucking serious.

This, at least, seemed to catch on the Faith girl’s radar and her open expression closed down a little bit. “Really? You would rather stay in… her company?” and her eyes flicked sharply at Jane and Dirk knew exactly what Faith saw.

That alone was enough for him to want to tell her off in the harshest way possible, but Dirk reigned himself and forced himself to stay calm. “I think I would know what company I prefer,” he stated simply, stepping away from Faith and placing an arm protectively around Jane. This finally seemed to register as rejection to Faith and her arm dropped to her side and her expression turned to a pout.

Jane felt something quite warm shoot up into the middle of her chest, as Dirk spoke and wrapped an arm around her. She couldn’t think straight for a good second or two, as Faith sort of pouted, and Dirk’s large, warm hand rest so close to her hip, but as soon as her synapses began firing again, she was able to recover.

She didn’t say anything- it wasn’t appropriate- but she must have looked so smug standing there against him, trying very hard not to smile with satisfaction in the face of someone trying to get on her turf.

Er, not her turf, Dirk wasn’t her’s to begin with- but still!

“C’mon, Jane,” he muttered, starting to walk away, but before he could take a proper step Faith spoke up again.

“Fine. Dave is obviously the better brother. You’re nothing but a snob,” she sneered, crossing her arms. Seeing that her words were drawing the attention of nearby passerby, Faith spoke a little louder. “You’ll never live up to the Strider reputation that your brother has made. No wonder you’re never seen out.”

Dirk unconsciously squeezed a little tighter at Jane’s waist, the gibe causing a quick tightening in his chest. Still, he wasn’t about to let this girl get the better of him and he simply raised an eyebrow coolly. “I’m not the one begging for attention,” he replied. “Your desperate attempts to seduce me are very unattractive. Why don’t you go run along and find someone else to play games with?”

That seemed to do the trick and Faith’s eyes narrowed and she turned away with a huff, holding her head up in defiance of the defeat she had been faced with. Still, her words had brought the unwanted attention of the people around them, and Dirk saw a few people taking pictures of him and Jane on their phone. It was hardly a second before someone stepped forward and asked to take a picture with him.

Letting go of Jane, he obliged but quickly realized he really shouldn’t have when they started asking him about his brother’s plans. Making quick excuses of how his brother was a secretive man, Dirk backed the hell out of there and grabbed Jane’s hand, not interlocking their fingers, just taking it in his. Walking briskly, he lead her to the only place that he figured they could hide in- the ferris wheel.

At the vendor, Dirk pulled out a bunch of 20’s from his wallet and shoved them at the man in charge of the wheel. “If you would be so kind as to let everyone else out of here, not let anyone else on, and keep our cart at the top, I would greatly appreciate it,” he said quickly.

The man shrugged and waved them on and did as Dirk had requested of him. Entering the carriage, Dirk let go of Jane’s hand and put his head in his hands, sitting opposite of her. Giving a sigh, he turned his gaze away from her, looking tiredly out of the carriage and looking out over the park.

Jane was silent.

She had moved along with him, had patiently waited while he got them out of such a mess of paparazzi and fans. She had thought he’d acted strangely today on occasion- like he was sneaking around or something- but obviously, she was only now understanding and remembering why he had to be like that. Dave was very much part of the public eye, and Dirk couldn’t escape that either. She followed him into the carriage, and stayed quiet until their carriage came to a full stop, and everyone had unloaded. It was just them at the top now.

She stayed still, and quiet, and finally she spoke up.

“I am _so_ sorry.”

Dirk looked up at her quickly when Jane spoke, eyebrows rising in surprise, no longer worried too much about people seeing him. “No need for apologies, Crocker. These things happen,” he shrugged, leaning back with his hands in his lap.

“I didn’t…think. I didn’t think about how this would be for you, or why it is you don’t really go out too much-” she stopped herself before she could go into panicked rambling, and then glanced out at the skyline. It was going to be dark very soon, the temperature dropping gradually even now.

“Lots of people.” she commented softly, looking over the edge of the cart and staring at the masses who were trying to board the ferris wheel, or take pictures of their carriage despite them being too far up for anything to be seen but the underside of the compartment. She reflected on Faith, how pretty she was and how much she must have wanted Dirk’s attention- how Dirk might’ve had fun with her for a girlfriend for a while.

He simply watched her silently through his shades, not denying what she had just said. It was true, after all, but he didn’t blame her for anything. Just because there were a lot of eyes constantly watching him didn’t excuse hiding away in his apartment for weeks on end. Really, he should probably thank her, but Jane’s attention had already moved on to the people below them and he followed her gaze.

“That’s what happens when you forget to turn your swag off,” he joked, a light smile on his face, hoping to put Jane back at ease. “My apologies for being forgetful.”

“No, it’s… it was probably good for a while, for you to be forgetful this way. You were having a good time, I could tell-” she hesitated, however, and brought her eyes back to him. “I mean, you were, weren’t you? Shoot, sorta sounded conceited of me to assume you were genuinely having fun today.” although she really did want to believe that he could enjoy himself out with her unabashedly.

It would be flattering, to think she could pull his thoughts away from his ‘fame’ and his status in the public eye. A shiver rushed through her body as the last vestiges of light drained from the sky, and she wished then that they were closer to the ground.

A confused frown came to his face when Jane questioned whether his time with her was actually enjoyable. “Please, Jane, as if any time spent with you could be anything but fun.”

Even in the darkness Dirk noticed her shiver a little and, looking at her arms, he could see a few goosebumps gathering on her arms. With hardly a thought, Dirk leaned forward to remove his jacket and, without waiting for her approval, draped it around her shoulders. “Better?” he asked tugging it over her shoulders, the size of it on her making it look like Jane had a cloak.

“Oh, you didn’t have to…” she trailed off, because the warm comfort of Dirk’s coat was enough to make her feel sleepy with happiness. The comforting scent and the smooth insides of a rough leather jacket-

“But, thanks.” she nodded, settling back against the seat and then looking down at her shoes. Although, suddenly, something rather bright from below caught her attention, and she leaned over the side of the carriage again, beaming.

“The lights! Oh, this is the most wonderful view of it- it’s gorgeous, isn’t it?” she asked, eyes bright and smile wide as her face literally and figuratively lit up.

Dirk gave a small smile at her thanks and leaned back to relax, but focused on her when Jane moved to take a look at the lights below them. Even as she commented on the lights, Dirk’s eyes stayed focused on Jane’s face, watching the way she smiled at the simple joy of the view below them. He leaned forward in a way so as to come off as if he were admiring the view as well, but with his shades hiding his eyes, Dirk took the time to get a closer view of Jane’s face.

There had been more and more noticeable and alien thoughts in Dirk’s mind, especially in just this day alone. But in this moment, there was one thought that he could not deny. Seeing Jane with her large smile, teeth poking out in an endearing way, and her eyes and face lit up with the colored lights below them, Dirk found himself thinking of Jane as, well, beautiful. It had always been cute Crocker, but now… There was something different and Dirk could not figure out what it was.

All he knew was that there was something he wanted. And right now he wanted to take her hand. And so he did. Not interlocking their fingers, Dirk felt her slightly cold digits in his rough palm and his thumb lightly moved over them. “Completely stunning.”

He hadn’t looked down at all.

Jane hardly reacted when he took her hand, only internally did she really respond. Her chest tightened and her heart fluttered just a little, her pulse increased by a fraction, but she mostly stayed the same in facial expression. She eventually shifted away from the carriage edge and turned her hand over, giving his fingers a squeeze and letting go, returning her hands to her lap.

“So, I suppose we’re stuck up here until that crowd disperses. Looks like they’re already losing interest, mostly, so perhaps we’ll get down sooner than we thought.” she mused. “Why were you so quick to turn that pretty girl down?” she asked, genuinely curious. “She might’ve been fun. Have some…”

A horrible grin tugged at her lips.

_“Faith.”_

Dirk groaned at the pun and clutched at his chest in a sense of mock pain. “You’re killing me, Jane. Oh-so very slowly like a cat that plays with a mouse.”

Leaning back, he gave her a half-smile and sighed, studying her for a clue as to why she would ask that. For some reason, he wanted to pull Jane over and onto his lap as his answer. Hold her against him and feel her weight against his chest.

“Why wouldn’t I?” Dirk shrugged. “If I do recall, there is someone else I have in mind and what was I gonna do, ditch you?” He quirked an eyebrow to emphasize just how much he thought of that idea.

“You’re twenty times a lady than she was, anyway,” Dirk continued. “I’d have to be blind not to see that.”

Jane was struck too suddenly by the reminder that they were both supposed to like Jake. She had … entirely forgotten about that whole debacle. It was unnatural, how easily she could ignore the fact that she shared such a sad fate, as to love someone her best friend loved. But then, of course, she wasn’t entirely sure that her feelings for her best friend were platonic anymore…

She shook her head a little, and laughed, waving him off. “Sorry, I actually- completely forgot, haha.” she admitted. “But if - if that weren’t a factor, I wouldn’t have minded. She seemed nice..ish. And like I said, she was pretty!” she smiled, curling up a little bit in Dirk’s jacket and looking almost a little sleepy. “Hm. I wonder when we can get down from here…”

“Please, you could tell she was just another dog trying to get a little lick of the Strider bone,” he scoffed. “Why are you so hung up on the ‘pretty’ factor, anyway? D’ya really think I’m that shallow? I’m devastated. Let me toss myself from this carriage, I don’t think I can go on, anymore.” All of this was said with a completely straight face to show that he wasn’t really offended, but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t just a tiny bit downed by the thought.

Watching Jane tuck herself further into his jacket, Dirk felt a sudden pang of affection towards her. Another desire to hold her taking root in his mind. “Do you wish to leave my company so soon?” he asked playfully, moving towards the edge of their carriage to peer down, noting where the ferris wheel’s vender stood. “As you wish.”

Picking a pebble up from the bottom of their carriage, Dirk accurately threw it down at the vendor, who promptly looked up at the small sting. Dirk gave him a thumbs up and in the next few seconds, the wheel started to move again.

It was less that she thought him so shallow, and more that she knew she wasn’t as pretty as that girl, knew that he deserved to have more aesthetically pleasing people on his arm if he was going to be in the spotlight.

Jane pressed her lips together in an effort not to giggle, as he went on overdramatically as if he were offended and hurt by her desire to leave. She watched him toss a pebble, and playfully tapped his shin with her toe in a very light ‘kick’ and a hushed “ _Dirk_ don’t _throw_ things at the man’s head!”, but she was laughing and all was well.

As they lowered, Jane watched the lights get closer, and surveyed where the crowd had been waiting for them to get down earlier. She was pleased to see they’d all dispersed already.

Dirk leaned his head against the steel bars, watching the lights come up to greet them as they were lowered back to the ground. “Now to be off before anyone notices,” he said, jumping up to check get the door.

Playfully, he stuck his head out in mimicry of those in spy movies before stepping out himself. Giving a small stretch, Dirk turned back around and reached out to help Jane out. Before her fingers could reach his, however, something bright leaped out from under the carriage.

Heat licked the front of Dirk’s body and the resounding boom knocked him backward and he landed hard on his back. His shades fell of his face and hit somewhere behind him, a loud ringing beginning to fill up his ears. Dirk wiped dirt from his eyes and rolled onto his elbows and knees, trying to regain his senses.

Lurching up to his feet, Dirk decided to forego snatching up shades in exchange for stumbling quickly to the carriage. “Jane?” he called out, verging a bit on a shout, feeling a bit deaf from the ringing.

Jane was sort of paralyzed for a few seconds, staying entirely still where she had landed, assessing the damage to her body. She was only in a little bit of pain, nothing major, and as she sat up on her elbows, she saw a shard of shrapnel sticking out of her jeans, lodged in her knee. She frowned a bit, and stood up carefully, brushing her shirt off and glancing up to see Dirk only a few feet in front of her.

“I’m fine, I’m fine. How are you?” she asked breezily, as though she had just been knocked down on the sidewalk, not nearly assassinated. She took a second to lean down and pull the shard out of her knee, discarding it among other rubble.

How was he? Only just about ready to simultaneously through himself at Jane’s feet while making a kabob out of whatever asshole thought that ending her life was a great idea. Dirk was being torn to shreds with rage and a searing happiness that came with seeing Jane on her own two feet. She stood there amongst the wrecked carriage, a bit of blood coloring the knee of her jeans, as if there weren’t anything easier and he felt like he’d been the one almost killed.

Just the imagined picture of Jane’s still body greeting him instead of the woman that was here right now… Dirk didn’t know what he’d do. How could he even pretend there could be a life without Jane? The idea just seemed preposterous.

Without replying, Dirk stumbled over to her and pulled her into his chest. “Fucking fantastic,” he breathed out, clutching tightly to her, making sure that he wasn’t just imagining things. “Holy shit, Jane. I’m so fucking glad.”

Dirk pulled away and brought his hands up to cradle her face, his orange irises meeting her vibrant blue ones and his thumbs wiping dust off of her cheeks. Here she was, standing tall after yet another assassination attempt and he was the one feeling like he’d almost lost it all.

He could fucking kiss her right now. Oh _shit_ he wanted to kiss her.

In a lame attempt to curb the sudden urge, Dirk pressed his lips to Jane’s forehead, but no dice. That wasn’t what he wanted. What he wanted was to put his mouth on hers and feel how soft and sweet Jane really was. Wanted to show her just how much she meant to him. And all he could do was repeat an inner mantra consisting solely of the word “fuck” in his mind while his heart beat just that much harder

Jane realized very belatedly that she had never actually been with a friend during an assassination attempt. They had heard plenty, sure, but it wasn’t the same as living it. She allowed him to clutch at her, and barely had time to clutch back when he was pulling away and holding her face. She permitted him to turn her face up so that she was staring right at him, big orange eyes and such a warm, caring expression. She noticed he was … vulnerable, open, readable in this moment, and it stunned her. They were still in public, after all.

She felt him wipe away dust, and there was this terrible, stale moment, where she thought he would kiss her, but he didn’t. She had felt tension that she believed wasn’t really there, and when his lips found her forehead she tried so hard to convince herself that this was okay, too, but no dice. This wasn’t what she wanted.

She shut her eyes, basked in his closeness, tried not to think about how his lips would feel on hers, and made herself smile. “Hey, hey, calm down,” she crooned, reaching up and holding his wrists, stroking along the veins she could feel. “I’m okay. Everything is okay.”

He gave a small breath of a laugh, a part of him appreciating the irony that came with the fact that she was trying to comfort him. Dirk placed his forehead to hers, keeping his eyes closed, suddenly self-conscious of the expressions his eyes displayed. The feeling of her light fingers actually did manage to calm him, a double-edged sword since when the panic ebbed out of him, Dirk instead became obsessed with the new thoughts of Jane.

She was just so close and an inner-voice had to yell at him “Jake” in order to keep himself from moving just that much more. Jane liked Jake. That was simply a fact. Not only that, but Dirk had been the one to bring that can of worms to the table with his own admission to liking Jake. So not only was she interested in someone else, but she thought that he was interested in the same person. The can of worms had just infested a whole damn apple orchard.

“How… has your dad even managed to stay sane through all of this shit?” Dirk managed to say, a smile lamely attempting to show itself. “Fucking mad props to the guy, holy shit.”

Dirk was…really close. Unnaturally close. Even when they curled up together at night he didn’t get his face so close. She watched him carefully, until he spoke and she had to respond.

“Ha! You big ba-“

“Mister Strider! Mister Strider!”

Just as Jane went to finish her sentence, the wailing of sirens and clicking of cameras were heard. The explosion had not only tripped security and emergency vehicles to show up, but a huge crowd, and apparently someone had leaked the information that Dirk was at the faire. Flashes started to blind Jane, and quickly her head pushed itself down under Dirk’s chin and she shut her eyes tight.

This did absolutely nothing for the image that they were ‘just friends’.

A smile started to form on his face at Jane’s gibe when the first bright flash lit up his eyelids, and as quickly as it had come, the smile disappeared. He had to restrain himself from turning to glare at the cameras, all too aware of his unshaded eyes. His brother might be a bit lax on some things, but this was one thing that he had ingrained into Dirk’s mind. Trusted friends were one thing, but fuck the paparazzi.

Feeling Jane tuck her head into his chest, Dirk figured that the pictures they would be published would be compromising enough that suddenly trying to act as “just friends” would do nothing now, so he held her close for a moment. Soon the calls of his name began to get to him and he took one of her hands, squeezing reassuringly. “Ready to hightail it out of here?” he asked, leaning away, still not daring to open his eyes.

Opening his eyes just a bit so that he could see the ground, Dirk ran out of the carriage, leading Jane behind him. In a smooth movement, he bent down and scooped up his shades. Wiping a bit of dust off of them, Dirk placed them on his face so that he could finally look around properly.

Spotting an opening in the crowd, he led them through; watching his pace so that he knew Jane could keep up. He felt bad making her run with her cut knee, but he figured she could handle it. Luckily, they were near the parking lot and they found his bike easily.

Already a crowd was beginning to follow them and Dirk rushed to get Jane on the bike, handing her the helmet before starting up the motor. He really wanted to throw the ‘razzi a bird, but figured that he wasn’t going to feed them that nugget. Dirk waited for the feel of Jane’s arms before racing off, weaving expertly between people, vehicles, and whatever other obstacles found themselves in his path.

Once they finally broke through, Dirk pointed them towards the hospital, knowing that Jane should probably get some proper treatment for her knee.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr: http://fyeahjanedirk.tumblr.com/post/33620016691/a-dirkjane-rp-turned-long-enough-to-be-a


	6. We made it

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If you're reading this, you've made it to where they finally kiss. Congratulations! You should celebrate by reading the shameless porn of them that Taylor and I can't stop doing.

The incident had been reported, Dad had been worried, and everything eventually smoothed over. A week and a half later, Jane was finally able to leave the house without her father giving her coupons for discounts on _tazers_.

She knew exactly where she wanted to head today- while she and Dirk had spent lots of time together already this summer, they had been separated for a few days now due to Dad Crocker’s paranoia and Jane’s desire to actually spend some time with him instead of leaving in favor of her friends. But enough was enough, and now she was headed for Dirk’s apartment.

Her slightly ripped up jeans from the evening of the accident at the faire, and a nice blouse in-tact, she climbed the stairs instead of using the elevator, and knocked on Dirk’s apartment door in a whimsical rhythm.

Dirk had holed himself up in his room once more, one of his neighbors had come by the next morning with one of those sleazy tabloids and handed it off to him with an amused smile. He didn’t need to read the blaring headlines to know what it said, the picture of him touching foreheads with Jane told him all he needed to know. Tossing the paper away, Dirk had flopped back on his couch and found himself trying to come up with ways to make what the tabloid implied come true. A point that was horrifyingly new to him.

Shortly after, his phone rang and Dirk picked up, assuming that some nosy reporter was going to try and hassle him. Except that when he placed the phone to his ear, the last voice he expected greeted him.

“So when were you gonna let me know that you and Crocker were getting your smooch on?”

“Dave,” Dirk states the obvious in surprise, not that his voice sounds surprised, but the elder Strider seems to know that the utterance of his name was not to get his attention and he continued.

“Fucking embarrassing having to act like I knew all along and I respect your personal business and other such shit. Not cool, lil bro.”

“Sorry to bust your bubble, but Jane and I aren’t dating,” Dirk’s stomach tightened a little at his own statement and even though he was alone in his apartment, his face had frozen into a stoic expression. “I was just hanging out with Jane. The publishers are just huge tools looking to jam square screws into round holes.”

“Whoa there, man. You’re piling the innuendo pretty high into that one.”

“I’m not. I’m afraid you’re the one placing your own intentions into that one.”

Dirk hears a laugh from the other side of the phone. “Can’t say it doesn’t cross my mind. ‘Sides, looks like I’m not the only one. Seriously, dude,” there’s a sudden pause and Dirk hears a door shut. “From the way you’re looking at your heiress friend, you’re in some serious shit.”

“She almost got murdered. I think that constitutes for some serious emotional response, although I understand if that doesn’t quite occur to you,” Dirk replies, trying to form some sort of excuse.

“You can’t throw me from this one,” Dave continues, ignoring the gibe. “I’ve seated my fine ass onto this bull and I am not going anywhere. The ride may be bumpy, but my rump is plush and my thighs are clenched tight to the sweaty sides of the beast.”

“Now who’s piling on innuendoes,” Dirk interrupts before Dave can keep on laying into the metaphor.

“All I’m saying is, you’ve been bit by the lovebug and there ain’t no cure.”

After that, Dave broke up the serious mood of their conversation by saying that if it didn’t work out his model agency had quite a few pretty ladies to choose from. Dirk told him to go stick his dick in a blender before making up some excuse to disengage from the conversation.

The next few days were spent breaking down his previous project into something else completely, thoughts of Jane fading in and out continuously. Sleep evaded him once more and the nights tormented him with how futile his hope for his feelings to be returned from Jane was. On those nights, which was to say every night, he’d get up and work persistently until he could stop delving into it.

So, when Dirk heard a knock at his door, he answered it with just his shorts and shades on, his skin bit dirty from his current project. Seeing Jane standing in his doorway gave him a bit of a start and, oddly, felt a bit self-conscious of his current state. Still, he smiled at her presence anyway.

“Oh, hey. Sorry, I, uh, wasn’t really expecting company,” Dirk tried to explain, gesturing at his unkempt appearance. “What can I do you for? I mean, in the ‘how may I help you’ sense and not the… yeah.”

Oh shit, was he acting weird? He was totally acting like a fucking weirdo. Scratching the back of his head, Dirk managed to keep his face straight, but internally wondered just how in the world he could act normal.

Jane blinked a few times, giving him a once-over and unfortunately not even trying to hide it. She didn’t really think about the action, she just sort of… scoped him out all on her own. “Wow, gosh, I don’t want to- interrupt. You’re busy, right? I can come back later, if you want- I was just dropping in to say hi- I’m sorry, I should have pestered…”

He looked a lot less rested, but maybe a bit more frazzled than she was ever used to seeing him. Like that day at the faire. She forced herself to keep her eyes on his shades, not lowering to look at the marks of dirt or oil or _whatever_ that was on his toned chest and abs and oh…oh, this was difficult to swallow.

Seeing Jane back-pedal a little, Dirk gave an intrigued tilt of his head. Did she just pause to check him out? Oh shit, she totally had. For some reason, this gave him a bit of his confidence back, a part of him smug that he could illicit such a reaction from her. There was no other option now, Jane had to stay.

“No, no, I’m afraid I’m going to have to insist,” Dirk replied, stepping out of the doorway for her to come through. “Haven’t seen you since you since the incident and I’m not going to turn you away now. You’ve got the eyes of a lost puppy with the hunger and the feast is right before your eyes.”

Dirk couldn’t help himself from giving a smirk, letting her know that he had definitely noticed her wandering eyes. “Seriously, though, you aren’t bothering me in the slightest.”

“Shush, you,” Jane scoffed, shoving him lightly as she passed him, and peering around his apartment. “So you’re working on something?” she asked, wondering where the machine in question was. She then sort of knotted up inside- it was probably Jake’s stupid cupcake making machine. Ugh.

“I’d love to see what, if I wouldn’t be getting in the way…” she lied. She honestly did not want to see him progressing on winning Jake’s heart. It hurt her own.

“Yeah… But it’s not what you’re thinking of,” Dirk added hurriedly, quickly realizing that she would assume that he was still working on. “I kind of… gave up on that one.”

He muttered the last part of the sentence hurriedly and turned away from Jane a little bit, unsure as to how she would take that. If there was one thing that would probably be really fucking stupid to do, it would be to pretend that he still had feelings for Jake. Might as well start testing the waters now. Dirk shrugged a bit bashfully and turned back to look at her.

“You’re free to come look. Although it doesn’t seem like much, to be honest.”

“Ah…” Jane was going to ask why he had given up on it- it had seemed like the perfect idea. Jake loved sweets, and not to have to rely on someone else to get them all the time, well, it would be very useful. And thoughtful.

But the moment had passed almost as quickly as it had come, and she was left smiling anyway, nodding much more enthusiastically at him now that she really WAS interested in what he was building. She locked her hands behind her back as she spoke, “Lead the way, mechanical genius.”

Dirk gave a small scoff at the “genius” comment, he never really thought his skills were that exemplary, but he appreciated the sentiment. Gesturing to follow him with a small twitch of his head, Dirk led Jane to his workroom.

Inside, there were two desks pressed to adjacent walls, toolboxes stacked up on one another. A wall of wrenches, ratchets, and their assorted attachments hung upon one wall. Chunks of mechanical gizmos were stacked on and under the desks, not the least bit organized to everyone else. The floor was stained and splotched with dark oil stains, as well as the edges of the desks.

In the center of the room, there was a table with two appendage-looking mechanical parts, as well as a bunch of nuts and bolts categorized into piles. A few cans of spray lubricants dripped slowly onto its surface.

Stepping into the room, Dirk grabbed a rag from a towel rack that he had hung up next to the doorway and began to wipe a bit at the smudges on his chest and arms. “So. This is pretty much where the magic happens,” he said, looking back at her for approval.

“Wow, a lot less glamorous than I thought it would be.” She smirked, obviously just ribbing him at this point. She pressed her lips together lightly and grinned.

“What is it, that you’re building?” she asked, approaching the tables and squinting a bit at the appendages on the table, being careful to sidestep dripping mess and oil.

“It’s a surprise,” he answered, wiping off his fingers. “I’m just showing you right now, since you probably wouldn’t be able to guess.”

Watching her attempting to avoid a few messes, Dirk reached out and lightly touched her arm to get her attention. “You’re dressed far too nicely for this place. Why don’t you go pick out one of my shitty shirts, so you don’t get yours stained or anything?”

“Oh, that would actually be pretty nice. Thanks.” She felt a bit tingly all over at his touch, and wondered briefly if he was just making a lot of contact with her to see her react. She dismissed the thought quickly and headed away to his room to rifle through his shirts.

It was tempting to look elsewhere… but she didn’t.

She tugged on a shirt of his that seemed oversized even for him, and it fit nicely, though due to her ‘womanly figure’ it wasn’t as loose as she wished it was. She pouted just a bit and fiddled with the edges of his shirt, as she came back to join him and leaned in the doorframe.

“Do you mind terribly, if I watch?” she asked.

Dirk had already gotten back at continuing his work on the robotic limbs, a screwdriver in hand. At the sound of Jane’s voice, his head twitched up from his work and he was glad that he had left his shades on. There was something oddly… pleasing in seeing Jane in something of his and his chest gave a little kick. Pulling himself back together, Dirk gave her a grin.

“You can watch anytime,” he replied, innuendo neatly tucked into his tone, before resuming his work.

Pulling out a few copper wires from a desk drawer, Dirk grabbed a barstool from the corner, as well, and placed it next to his worktable. “Go ahead and sit your fine ass down.”

Jane was usually not bothered by advances like that unless they came from Jake; Roxy threw out innuendo and subliminal messages all the time, and Dirk was the Prince of Awkward Metaphors (the King being his older brother, whom Jane had met once in a playdate when she was much younger. Once was enough for her).

However, this time, she found herself a little pink in the cheeks, while her abdomen gave a surprised jolt of…something she didn’t want to place. She tried to ignore the jumpstart her lower torso had been given by his baritone voice, and perched on the stool neatly as ever.

“It all looks very complicated.” she admitted, watching him for a few silent seconds.

A sharp exhale was his reply, his mouth holding a few small screws while he tried to align a part into place. Taking one of the screws from his mouth, he deftly placed it into its allotted space before turning to face Jane. Using his free hand, Dirk pulled the rest of the screws from his mouth similarly to the way one would with a cigarette.

“I assure you that it really isn’t that difficult of a skill to master. Just knowledge of the fundamentals and how not to fuck up and you’re pretty much good to go,” he shrugged, before turning back to his work, fingers inside of a joint to turn the screw into firm placement.

Jane focused on his fingers when he spoke despite him looking at his eyes or his face as normal people might. She couldn’t place why, but watching him turn and twist his hand that way was pretty mesmerizing. She figured maybe it was just a relaxing sort of motion, and shrugged it off internally.

“Well, that’s what I said about baking, but Ro-” a loud chiming sounded in her pocket, and she stood up from the barstool to fish out her phone from her pocket. She wrinkled her nose up, but was smiling as she looked at the caller ID.

“Oh, speak of the devil. It’s Roxy.” she hesitated, finger hovering over the answer button, “Do you mind if I answer? Oh, but that would be sort of rude…”

Dirk waved a freehand at her. “Go ahead, I’ve obviously got something to preoccupy myself.”

Letting Jane answer her cellphone, he placed his focus back on his machinery, not even trying to see what Roxy could possibly want to talk about. Twisting two wires together, Dirk began to fall back into the habits he didn’t even know he had. Such as the tip of his tongue that began to slowly peek out of his mouth as he concentrated.

Getting in close to the innards of one of the components, Dirk switched to biting his lower lip and pushed his shades up, pushing his hair back a bit along with it.

Jane pressed her phone to her ear after answering, and casual girl chatter began. It was mostly asking Roxy to repeat or reform her sentences, so the girl was obviously highly inebriated. Jane’s eyes eventually focused back on Dirk as she tried to listen to what Roxy was telling her, and she watched him work.

His tongue, pink and … wow, kind of long, now that she really watched … well, it was sticking out a bit, and it was the cutest darn thing she’d seen. When he bit his lip, something in her posture changed, and she had to look away for a few seconds to get a handle on her own focus. What was going on with her?

In an attempt to grab his screwdriver without looking, Dirk managed to instead push it off the table. Hissing a low curse under his breath, he went after it, bending over to pick it up. Standing back up, Dirk took a moment to stretch out his back. Pausing, he walked over to one of his desks and grabbed a smallish wrench and tossed it into a spin so as to catch it again.

Grabbing a medium-sized canister part Dirk put the wrench to one of the bolts and began to loosen it, giving a small grunt as he did so. Once the bolt had been loosened, he twisted it off and turned back to the table and started fiddling around with the innards of the machinery. Getting more into it, he momentarily forgot that he was being observed and he began to hum to himself.

Jane’s responses to Roxy were coming slower and slower, more delayed, less asking to repeat so she could understand. She watched as he knocked off the screwdriver he needed, and then he bent…over…ohh.

Oh, she wanted to grab that really badly. She nearly salivated at the idea of warm, tight flesh in her hands, giving a good, heavy squeeze and -

“Yeah! Yeah, I’m still here, Rox.” she muttered, snapping out of her reverie and trying not to pay too much attention to him, worried she’d be caught and accused of all sorts of outlandish things.

That weren’t outlandish at all.

Hearing a sudden change in Jane’s manner of speaking, Dirk looked up from his work, only to catch the slight flick of her eyes averting his gaze. Curious as to why she would be avoiding his eyes, he watched her closely and thought that he- no, make that definitely- could see a slight red tint to her cheeks. So, since she was avoiding him and blushing in embarrassment at the same time, it could only mean that she’d been ogling him. And seeing as she had been eyeing him at the doorway unabashedly, it would’ve had to have been something a bit more… she had stared at his butt.

Dirk had to cover his mouth to keep himself from smiling. A laugh lurking in his chest threatened to pop out. This was good news for him, it meant that maybe he could coerce her into admiring his appearance a bit further. “I wanna kiss you” bit further.

Grabbing one of the cans of lubricant, Dirk sprayed a pretty big puddle onto the table and then dipped his fingers into the liquid. He didn’t want to seem to forward in his advances, so he decided to bring attention in the most roundabout fashion he knew. Bringing his finger to his chest, Dirk proceeded to draw two smiley faces onto his chest, reapplying the oil when necessary.

“Hey, Jane,” he called out, waiting for her to look at him. When she finally did, Dirk lifted an eyebrow and proceeded to flex his pecs interchangeably.

Jane blinked, startled from her reverie, and looked up and over at Dirk. Her words stuttered and she began to laugh rather hysterically almost at once, though her face turned red far quicker out of embarrassment. She had to push the phone away from her ear and mouth “DIRK STOP” as she struggled not to ‘hoo’.

Uugh, but were his pecs delicious. She wished so much that were chocolate sauce instead of oil, she wished so much that-

“S-sorry, Rox, Dirk was being a dumbass again. Anyway, haha, uh, go on?” she asked, turning away from him so she could calm down.

With her now turned away from him, Dirk gave a broad smile. Now what, though? Scanning his workspace, he tried to come up with another attack plan. His eyes brightened as he spied a part with a few empty holes in need of some greasing up. Grinning, Dirk picked up the cylindrical part and smeared the rest of the lubricant onto his fingers.

Walking over to Jane, he tapped her shoulder with the part and, when she turned around, thrust the part into her free hand. “Help me keep this steady for me.”

Dirk placed his hand over hers in a way to keep her from letting go, then with his greased up fingers, he began to finger the stringed holes. Small ones first to sort of work his way up, but at the bottom of the cylindrical part there was a larger hole that he could actually stick two of his fingers in.

This was obviously why he had chosen the part for and it took most of his self-control to maintain his nonchalant air, as if he didn’t know what exactly he was implying. Shades still pushed up onto his head, Dirk made sure to keep his eyes on the part only, even though he was dying to see Jane’s reaction. Wanting to up his showmanship, he bit his lower lip a bit.

Jane nodded brightly when he asked her to help, and for a few seconds she was chatting entirely with Roxy, actually absorbed in the conversation- until she idly looked down as his hand went to hers, and her eyes latched onto the way his fingers moved.

She struggled not to see what was obviously there. By the second hole, it was impossible. He was _biting his lip_ , god, that asshole. He had to know what he was doing, he had to. She actually squirmed in her seat, trying to continue to speak, but dropping short of words half way through them.

Still feigning innocence, Dirk paused in his attentions to the part and looked up at Jane when she squirmed a bit. He almost blew it, though, the strange feeling he got in his chest from just seeing her caught him off guard. He really wasn’t used to that yet.

Still, his face remained as composed as ever and he simply raised his eyebrows in a clear way of asking, “Is there a problem?”

Jane took a few seconds to respond, continuing to fidget a little subconsciously. She shook her head and only glanced at him, trying so hard not to think about how deft his movements were, how his fingers were slick and smooth right now with oil; she bet he could turn his fingers _just right_ , hit all the best spots-

She turned a scarlet shade, and cleared her throat as she loudly pronounced her next few words into the receiver. She had always been careful to keep these kinds of thoughts confined to her alone time, but he was making it nigh impossible.

Dirk gave a nonchalant shrug when Jane gave a shake of her head, but was pleased to note her reddening features. Deciding that he had toyed with her enough, though, he removed his fingers from the part. Rubbing his fingers together, Dirk noted the slick and slightly gritty texture of the oil and then, without a second thought, wiped them off on Jane’s face, leaving three grey and greasy lines on her cheek.

It had been a purely playful gesture and the smirk Dirk gave her was one of challenge. The act spoke loudly of “pay attention to _me_ ” and perhaps goad Jane into a game with him, rather than continue her conversation with Roxy.

Jane’s mouth hung open as he dragged his fingers across her cheek. She stared at him, astonished, and then she turned her head a bit. “Ro, I have to call you back.” and she hung up, glaring, but with a smile on her face.

“You’re going to get it, Strider. Gonna wish you’d never done that.” she took a couple steps forward, turned over the canister of oil, and rubbed it between her hands like soap. “Now come here.” she advanced on him.

Having successfully earned the reaction he desired, Dirk couldn’t keep a broad smile from crossing his face, his eyebrows raised high above his shades as Jane soaked her hands in oil. It was hard for him to keep himself from laughing, as well, since she’d managed to grab one of the oil canisters that he had been using to hold used oil in. Which meant that her hands were now covered in a dark liquid and he’d have to show her how to get it off properly later.

For now, though, Dirk gently placed the part in his hands onto the tabletop before skirting away from her, deftly putting the table between them. “I’m sorry, it looks as though you’ve managed to make a mess of yourself. You should probably take care of that,” he gibed.

“I think I have _just_ the solution,” she smirked, being very still, and then leaning far across the table, landing one heavy black handprint on his shoulder and trying to keep him still so she could walk around the table to get to him.

Of course, Dirk wasn’t just about to let her win that easily and slipped out of her grip. Quite literally, since oil wasn’t meant to increase friction, after all. To retaliate, he continued around the table to stick his own hands into the oil Jane had spilled out before reaching out for her. Grinning, he grabbed her elbows and wriggled his fingers around to spread the dark color around.

Jane squeaked in protest, the feeling gross, and she wriggled away a little at first, but an idea came to her quicker than she could get away. She went to step around the table to get to him, and then promptly took a grand fall. It was plausible, and probably inevitable, given that the workspace was slick with dripping oil now, and she lay on her back, giving a little yelp of pain.

Dirk’s face fell in an instant and a pit of worry reached his stomach. “Oh shit,” he muttered under his breath as he rushed to kneel by her side.

If she somehow managed to hurt herself, in his workplace no less, Dirk would never forgive himself. He had only meant to have a bit of fun, after all. It wasn’t something he indulged in often and if it caused someone he really cared about any pain, you could bet he wouldn’t be trying it again for a while.

“Fuck. Are you okay, Jane?” he asked, eyebrows furrowing in concern. His hands hovered over her, a bit unsure if it was dire enough to touch her with his dirty hands.

Jane shut her eyes and took a deep breath, exhaling through her teeth, and shook her head just a little. “C’mere,” she muttered, wanting him to get closer. Just a little bit, so she could exact her revenge with startling precision and accuracy.

Not really. She just wanted to see his face when she did it.

Obeying, Dirk leaned forward a little, steadying himself by putting a hand down next to her shoulder. His eyes flicked up and down her body, carefully looking her over to spot wherever the problem may be.

Jane raised both hands slowly, sliding them down the sides of his face and making big black streaks along his cheeks and jawline. She proceeded to move her hands a bit further down, gliding them along his collarbones…his…pecs…

She got lost a second or two, staring as gritty black lines outlined his muscles. God, he was gorgeous- an Adonis with social deficiency most of the time- and she couldn’t really believe she was _touching_ him.

Dirk was stunned at first, only realizing that he had just been pranked like a poor schmuck after Jane’s hands had left large marks upon his face. The second feeling to wave through him, however, was one of relief. That, combined with the gentle feeling of her hands drifting over his skin, made him stay put, all feelings of retaliation put aside. It felt… amazing, to say the least, to have her hands on him, fingers light on his collarbones.

Normally, Dirk would’ve made a snarky comment on how Jane really just wanted to feel him up, but this time… This time he didn’t want to scare her off. Didn’t want her to pull away her hands. And so he stayed silent and blinked slowly, watching her eyes look intently at where her hands were placed.

Now that was a bit interesting. Sure it was part of the plan to gain Jane’s interest, but even this was a bit off for her. She’d seen him plenty of times without a shirt, but her eyes had never seemed this… admiring. Of course, maybe he was just reading too much into it?

When the expected joke never came- when no snark showed its face- she grew increasingly warmer all over. There was something tense and heavy in the air, something between them that made her nose scrunch up impulsively and her fingertips charge with energy. Something was going on, and she was too jittery to stay put and find out what it was, so she rolled out from under him and leapt up in a hurry.

“Haha! You fell fo-OOR-!!!”

And of course, since Jane was genuinely clumsy, she _would_ actually trip this time, about a foot away from where she’d just gotten up. She landed far less carefully, right on her backside, and her face locked up in genuine pain this time. Damn!

“Oooow.” she whined.

Dirk blinked in surprise when she rushed away from him and stayed in stunned silence when Jane flopped on the ground once more; genuinely this time he presumed. Even for her it would be in bad taste to repeat a prank so soon. A part of him was worried, but he’d already worked through his concerned quota and the situation was too perfect. So as he crawled over to her side, Dirk busted into laughter.

“Holy fucking shit, Jane. How do you like that for karma?”

Still not wanting to leave her hanging, though, Dirk carefully slid one arm under her head and lifted her up a bit, so she wasn’t lying completely on the hard floor. Cradling Jane’s head in the nook of his arm, Dirk gave a slightly concerned smile down at her (a part of him was still amused, though) and tilted his head a bit. “You all right there, miss?”

“Hrngrhngh. Shut up.” Jane stuck out her tongue half-heartedly, and sort of leaned into the crook of his arm. She heaved a sigh and shut her eyes, feeling that same warm, safe feeling that came with his hugs. “I think…maybe we should clean up.” she opened her eyes and looked down at herself, and then at his chest, his neck, his face.

She laughed. She couldn’t help it. She broke into laughter and couldn’t stop. “You look _ridiculous!_ ” she cried through her laughter.

Jane’s amusement gained a resigned huff from Dirk, but in mild retaliation he brought a finger up to the bridge of her nose lined it with a streak. “Like I’m the only one who looks ridiculous here,” he retorted. “But yeah, dirty oil isn’t exactly known for its exfoliating properties.”

Then, just because he could and he wanted to distract Jane from laughing at the dark streaks her fingers had left on him, Dirk slid a hand underneath her legs and lifted her up. It was only a few steps to the nearest desk, the table being too dirty with the spilled oil, and he sat her down on the edge.

“This shit doesn’t come off easy, either. At least with regular soap. You have to use this stuff,” Dirk paused to reach over behind her, pulling back a medium-sized tub. “For some reason it only comes in a citrus scent. Not that I’m complaining.”

Dirk tried to open it with his hands for a moment before realizing that his hands were too slick with grease to do so. After glancing around, he shrugged and lifted up the hem of the shirt that Jane was wearing (which was his, so that wasn’t really an issue) and stuck the tub underneath to twist the lid off.

With it now open, Dirk dipped an oily finger into the tub, which seemed to be filled with a white lotion type substance. “It’s got pumice in it, so don’t be surprised by the rough texture,” he informed her before placing the bit he had on his finger onto her elbow.

Jane couldn’t stop laughing, even and maybe especially as he put more on her nose. Eventually, a string of genuine ‘HOO HOO HOO!’s erupted, and her face was red with embarrassment and exertion.

Eventually, it died out, and she heaved a little sigh. “Gosh, is that enough for the both of us to get this stuff off?” she asked, looking down at the tube and holding her arm up for him to reach properly. “Sheesh, I’m sorry Dirk, I didn’t know it’d be such a pain in the ass to remove later.”

He took her offered arm and rubbed gently at her elbow, the white soap quickly turning a murky grey as it removed the grease. Getting another dollop, Dirk moved on to her other elbow, performing the same action. “It’s quite alright,” he shrugged, but then gave a pause, an idea formulating in his mind. “Although I suppose you should assume responsibility.”

Grinning mischievously, Dirk placed the canister in her lap and then leaned forward, his hands steadying himself on either side of her legs. “How ‘bout you clean up the mess you made?”

Jane was about to laugh until she realized just what that meant. She looked from him down to his neck- her eyes were practically _drinking him in_ the way they moved down his chest. She felt her insides squirm a little and she rolled her eyes, trying to act nonchalant as she took a pretty decent amount of the solution in her own hand.

“Pft. I think you just haven’t had any action in too long.” she teased, but her voice wavered and her eyes were too active to have it be a simple jest and nothing more. She was delaying the inevitable, by keeping it in her hands and pretending to want to have an even amount on both sets of fingers.

Dirk grinned languidly, tilting his head to allow more access to his chest and neck. “And how exactly could you have come to that conclusion? Has someone been watching my door? Perhaps there’s a nosy detective about that I should know about.”

Seeing her hesitation, Dirk softened his smile and took one of her hands in his. “This isn’t an exact science, Crocker,” he spoke lowly, bringing her hand to his chest. Slowly, though, making sure there wasn’t any resistance and that he wasn’t forcing her to do something she was uncomfortable with.

Jane briefly thought about Faith, that girl at the park who was so pretty, who probably would _kill_ to be Jane right now, slathering this weird cream stuff all over his body and getting to listen to his low baritone voice so _close_ , sending the best vibrations through her body and putting her on high alert.

She thought that Faith would die if she knew that Jane was here with Dirk guiding her hand and- oh, shoot, he was saying something. Crap! “Hmm, um, yeah. Sorry.” was all she felt was safe to say. She typically would have snapped back with a witty retort, but, she wasn’t paying enough attention.

A low chuckle found its way into Dirk’s chest and he removed his hand from hers, wanting Jane to continue the work on her own volition. “Apologies. Is something distracting you?” he asked playfully, but his own body was betraying him now.

The feel of her hands rubbing against his chest, aided by the slight grittiness of the pumice, made him want to lean closer and allow her further reach of his body. Wanted to have her clutch at his back and stroke down his abdomen, maybe even feel a little bit lower and- no. Shit. He wasn’t going to think about that.

“Oh, shush.” she chided, in a voice too sweet to be genuine. She pressed her hands fully against his chest, palms flat, rubbing in slow circles and watching the white fade to gray. “I don’t want to hurt you. Let me know if it’s - if I’m putting too much pressure…” she trailed off, not trusting herself to make anything too much like innuendo.

She felt her heart race, wondered if he could hear it, since he was so close. She pressed her lips together tightly, cleared her throat, nervous, and then gave a glance up right at his eyes. The bright orange was always something fascinating, and she loved how expressive they could be, since he was so used to hiding behind glasses and didn’t often remember to guard himself around her anyway.

A small breath of a laugh escaped him at that, knowing full well what Jane was trying to avoid, but hardly succeeding. Dirk would’ve called her out on it, but he was too busy sighing into the feel of her palms against his chest to bother. His eyelids drooped a little and Dirk focused his eyes on Jane’s, catching her gaze.

All of the snarky joking seemed to drain out of him, then. He wasn’t sure exactly why, but catching sight of her unreal blue eyes (He’d never seen any quite her shade. Then again, his were a bit unique, too.) this time around seemed to calm him. It had been a while since someone had touched him, truthfully. Sure he and Jane had been hanging out and cuddling, but this was different. A bit more intimate, perhaps. And he so badly wanted to rest his head against hers, but he kept himself still.

“Your- face. You’ve - I put big handprints on your face.” she finally muttered, when she knew she was reaching spots that weren’t covered in oil anymore. She lifted her hands and took a little more solution onto them, rubbed her hands together, and then slowly placed both hands on either side of his face, rubbing in circles to get the grime off.

Dirk nodded absentmindedly, not really noticing or caring that her hands had been roaming just a bit. He had to close his eyes when Jane proceeded to clean his face, a smile he couldn’t hold back joining her hands. It was pretty much impossible not to find the situation amusing, but he gave a low hum of approval, not so different from that of a cat’s purr.

After a while, though, Dirk reached up to pull Jane’s hands away. Opening his eyes, he smiled gently, a bit of unrestrained caring displayed in his eyes. “C’mon, let’s move to the sink, so I can wash this soap off and then clean you up.”

Making sure to take the tub from her, Dirk stepped back and held out a hand to help Jane down.

Jane thought she was going to die at the idea of having to see Dirk wash up. The image of water dripping down and off and across muscle made her shiver just a little, and she was glad that she was in the process of getting up, and there was a smaller chance that he would notice at all.

She moved toward his sink without prompting, out of the workroom and into the kitchen, trying very hard not to think any more thoughts that might put her in a spot of trouble with emotion. She had really loved the genuine caring and … almost affection, she could have sworn … that she had seen in his eyes. It made her have just the slightest bit of hope.

Placing the tub down at the sink, Dirk turned on the sink and grabbed the spray hose, since he figured that splashing water on himself would be a bit more work than it was worth. Except that the flow of water was a bit faster than he expected and when the water hit his chest it sprayed the surrounding area haphazardly for a moment before he turned it off. “Oops,” he deadpanned, but small grin could be seen at the edge of his face.

Turning down the flow of the stream, Dirk returned to the work of washing himself down, wiping away at his chest. The water turned dark as it slid down his chest and he paused for a moment to reach under the sink and pull out a few rags he kept there. Two were laid on the floor to catch the water that managed to find its way past his shorts and down his legs, and two others to wipe themselves off afterwards.

Leaning over the sink, Dirk pulled off his shades from his head and placed them aside so he could rinse his face. Once he was finished with that, he stopped the flow to the hose and held it out to Jane. The front of his bangs were wet and stuck a bit to his face. “Do you need help cleaning up?” he offered, making sure to keep any joking out of his voice, because he really did want to.

It took everything in Jane’s power to say, “No, I’m fine! Thanks, though.” and do it herself.

She had stood there and watched him and _good lord_ she wanted to touch him. Hell, do more than touch him- and a little pang in her heart reminded her that Dirk wasn’t interested in her like that. He had Jake to think about now. She knew she should be feeling similarly about English, but she couldn’t…really muster the same enthusiasm anymore.

So she diverted her attention and remained as calm as possible, rubbing away at her nose and elbows, grateful that he had kept her minimally messy.

Dirk shrugged in reply, but his eyes glanced down at the floor for a moment in disappointment. He grabbed a rag and proceeded to wipe himself off while Jane applied more of the soap to her dirty face and arms. As soon as he was done, he paused to look at her, observing her slightly scrunched up face when she rubbed at her cheeks and nose. Man, he really wanted to touch her face for her, trace his fingertips softly against her skin.

He supposed there was one way to get this to come true and also perhaps assess how much “wooing” he would need to continue in an effort to gain Jane’s affections. There was also the task of proving that he wasn’t hung up on Jake anymore. One thing at a time, though, he figured, placing his rag under the stream of water to wet it.

Patting the counter next to the sink, Dirk motioned for Jane to sit down. “C’mon, Jane. You’re missing a few spots,” he lied, not that she would know since there weren’t any mirrors about for her to check properly. “Let me wipe them off for you.”

Jane rolled her eyes as he pat the counter and spoke, but she did as she was told. Having him near and so doting was almost painful- but she had to admit that she was happy he was still willing to act like this despite everything that had gone down in the last couple months or so.

“Fine, fine, _Dad_ ,” she teased, as she hoisted herself up (with some difficulty) onto the countertop, and settled in. She grabbed the edges of said counter, and leaned forward a little so that he could easier reach her face.

Dirk inwardly flinched at the “Dad” comment, since that was about the last person he wanted to be related to at that point, but he did his best to ignore it. “I’m just trying to help out, Jane, no need to patronize,” he grinned, reaching up with the wet cloth to gently wipe at her face.

He maintained his distance at first, forcing himself to concentrate on the soap and grease rather than how bright her eyes were or how inviting her lips looked. Nope. Definitely not concentrating on them at all. Then, just as he did with his work, Dirk’s tongue began to poke out a bit in concentration and his eyes narrowed in the slightest.

Soon, he decided to up his game a little and brought his other hand up to Jane’s cheek, in the guise of steadying her head. As he did so, Dirk began to wipe her neck a little, and he eyed the smooth the skin there and shit did he want to lean in and place his lips there. It was at this point that Dirk decided that he needed to assess how this was affecting Jane and he finally allowed himself to make eye contact, keeping his gaze gentle and perhaps even showing just a little bit of the affection he held for her.

Jane watched him- she couldn’t help it, he was right up against her face- and noted how his tongue started to poke out the way it did when he was working so intently on something. She saw the little movements in the muscles on his face, and adored every single one. Her heart was going to burst, she felt so full of affection for him, and she was certain she couldn’t keep this so closely guarded for much longer.

She couldn’t help but lean her face into his hand when his touch permitted it, and she nearly moaned with relief at the way he was so gentle, so calm and near and safe and warm and just _oozing_ with something new she hadn’t felt yet, something….weirdly affectionate…overly affectionate, even?

Confused, she finally met his eyes, and in a flicker, she saw it. Just the briefest of moments, in which something akin to what she knew she felt in _his_ eyes. She could hardly believe it, and she totally wouldn’t have if she hadn’t seen it for herself- but it had been there. She knew it. Recognition drew over her face gradually, and she felt her eyes grow wider as her heart rate increased.

Staring into Jane’s eyes, feeling the simple warmth of contact from her cheek to his hand… It was driving Dirk just a little bit crazy. She was just so close and the desire to kiss her had never been a thing that had stopped happening. In fact, when her eyes widened, the desire only increased and his skin began to tingle with warmth, his chest rising and falling just that much faster. His cleaning of her face began to slow down and he let his eyes drop down to her lips. Held them there, letting Jane know that he was looking, wanted to let her know what he was thinking about. His thumb gave a subconscious rub to her cheek and he flicked his eyes back up to hers, trying to gauge her reaction.

Dirk was already leaning in, though, he couldn’t quite hold himself back any longer. His stomach felt like someone was having a party in there and his chest felt tight with how much he wanted her. Still, he advanced slowly, giving Jane time to decide whether or not she wanted to accept or reject him. His waist bumped against Jane’s knees and his hands dropped away from her face and steadied themselves against the counter. The whole time his eyes remained on hers. Watching for any signal to say that this wasn’t okay.

Jane caught on quick, after the initial shock was over. He was staring at her _lips_ now, and leaning in so slowly, watching her. She didn’t understand _why_ this was happening, and when his hand left her cheek and rest down on the counter beside her, she knew that it had been on track to happen for a very long time that neither of them had paid much mind to.

She didn’t stop him. She stayed very still, wanting to know if he would go through with it, wanting to know that if this happened- if they should kiss- that it would be entirely his doing, that he would be the one asking for it, taking it. She would give it to him, willingly, of course, but she wanted assurance that it wasn’t just her head making up stories. Her breathing was labored, her eyes kept pinned to his, and her heart had never felt more fluttery.

Not seeing any particular movement to pull away or some indication that she was uncomfortable, Dirk continued, their lips only a few centimeters away from each other now. At this point he tilted and leaned his head down a little more to get a better placement lined up. By now the tension he felt between them was undeniable and Dirk began to forget to breathe, only reminded by Jane’s own exhale gracing over his face.

Finally, Dirk’s eyes fluttered closed and he moved in the rest of the way, pressing his lips to Jane’s as gently as he could muster. At the feel of his lips on hers, Dirk felt like he was going to have to perform surgery on himself, his heart beating erratically. Feeling a warmth flow through his body, he knew that his face and neck were beginning to flush, whether from desire or embarrassment from this admission to his feelings he didn’t know. He supposed that it all just depended on whether Jane decided to kiss him back.

Citrus. It was the first thing to overwhelm her- because not only did the cream leave citrus scent lingering on the both of them, but also because he basically bathed in body and hair products that were all citrus-scented. She’d known that since they were much younger.

She did not even need a second to think about it- she returned his kiss with a gentle press of her own lips against his, keeping everything close-mouthed and chaste despite the overwhelming need to make it all passionate and hasty and brimming with the ideas that had been threatening to consume her brain for weeks now. She felt the body heat radiating from him in waves, and in response, her own ears and cheeks started blossoming with red- she, however, was certain that it was out of passion, not embarrassment.

She lifted her hands from the sides of the counter, and brought them up half way to his face- where they lingered, floated in the air, unsure of herself- until she finally went for it, and placed both her palms on his cheeks, wanting to feel real, solid Dirk, kissing her. Oh, god. Kissing her.

Dirk was definitely surprised, happily of course, when Jane promptly began to return the kiss. He remained still, though, not really having had a plan past kissing her. Not to mention that it was hard to think with his heart having some sort of fit that left him breathless. Taking his time in memorizing the way her warm lips felt against his, Dirk didn’t even notice that Jane had raised her hands until he felt her cool fingers touch his cheeks.

It was at that point that he realized why Jane hadn’t been making a move to reject him… She wanted to kiss him. And the idea encouraged Dirk to move his hands to her waist before trailing them down to her knees, so he could push them apart and pull her closer towards him. Not having to lean so far over anymore, he pressed a little harder into the kiss, wanting still more of Jane.

Jane rubbed circles into the skin over his cheekbones, and couldn’t help but smile into the kiss when he pushed her knees apart. She enjoyed the way the kiss got a little more intense, just- very slightly, and with such a slow speed that she knew he was being careful for her.

She also knew, however, that the kiss had to end sometime. Sadly. She very slowly pulled her lips away from his, and looked into his eyes, with both hands holding his face in close proximity. She breathed soft against his lips, and tried to process completely what happened and what it meant.

He was a bit reluctant to pull away, but knew that it was unreasonable to try and kiss her for minutes on end. Their faces stayed close, though, noses lightly brushing on occasion. For the first few seconds, he was silent, trying to catch his breath and understand what their current situation meant. Dirk decided it would probably be for the best if he explained himself first, seeing as he was the one who had prompted the action, as well as begin their first few hangout sessions for a _certain_ purpose.

“So, uh, I don’t have an infatuation for English, anymore,” he offered, a light smile teasing at his lips as he searched Jane’s eyes for a reaction.

“Oh, you don’t?” Jane smirked, without missing a beat. She rubbed her nose in a slow eskimo kiss against his, and giggled just slightly, mouth closed and eyes fixed on his.

“I don’t, either.” she admitted, stating the obvious. “It’s been a long, long time coming, if we’re being honest here. I’m glad you did something.” she pressed a peck to his lips- god, she could freely _do_ that now. “Mmmnm, you…” she trailed off, eyes wide in sudden realization, and she leaned back a bit to get a good look. She was kind of shocked.

“Wait a second. All day- you’ve been- on _purpose_ …!” oh, so she finally caught on.

Dirk quirked an eyebrow at her admission, curious as to exactly how long she was talking. The question got brushed aside, however, when Jane gave a quick touch of her lips to his and he couldn’t keep away the happy grin that lit up his face. It died down, though, when she pulled away, and he returned to his puzzled expression.

When it became apparent what it was that Jane was realizing, he gave a bit of a bashful smile, something he hadn’t done in years. Normally he wouldn’t have been shameful at all of his blatant flaunting of himself and his innuendos, but… she had _already_ liked him and he was a bit embarrassed for that, since her thoughts apparently didn’t need to be persuaded into that area.

“I swear it was for a damn good cause,” he replied, shrugging. “I didn’t quite hear you complaining, by the way.”

“Well, _no_ , but…but…” she felt something seize up in her chest. So he _did_ know what he was doing, when he made her stare at his chest, when he jibed her at the door, when he slicked up his fingers with oil and _oh_ he _fingered that part knowingly-_

“Oh _goodness_ ,” she whispered in an exhale, face heating up rapidly as she thought of the extreme sexual connotations and- and how he was thinking just the same thoughts.

It was impossible for him not to, and damn was he trying not to. Except that it was a tad difficult with having her legs around his waist, and that if he nudged forward just that much more- Not wanting that train of thought to complete itself, Dirk removed his hands from her knees and backed away from her, running his hands through his hair.

He did that for a while, letting the act of combing his hair with his fingers preoccupy his thoughts and letting himself cool down a bit. “Yeah… Guess I should apologize,” he drifted off, his chest giving a leap when he looked back up at her.

“Don’t be sorry. Unless you take it back?” she asked, rushing through her words a little and not pronouncing each syllable as she usually did. She swallowed hard as he backed away- she didn’t like signs of reluctance. “I … don’t mind. It’s flattering. And you know I … was in the same mindset, at least.”

Dirk felt pretty ridiculous getting this worked up about this when he knew that he had made way worse references in Jane’s presence. Although he supposed it was a bit different when your references actually involved your best friend.

“No, no, I definitely… It’s definitely something that I, uh, want to do,” he rushed the last few words, pausing to give an embarrassed laugh. “It’s music to my ears to hear that you’re on the same page, at least.”

Jane gave a few nervous chuckles, and shifted on the counter, dropping down and approaching him, taking both hands and squeezing them gently. “Well, no need to rush anything, but, at least we know that it’s in the future, yeah?” she winked, trying to lighten the mood just a little- and she leaned up to kiss him.

Unfortunately, her height got to make a fool of her yet again- she had to stand on tip-toes to even _almost_ reach his lips. It was painfully embarrassing, and she was obviously kind of … well, pouting about it, as she leaned back down and took back her attempt at a kiss while standing.

Watching Jane’s attempt to kiss him, Dirk almost couldn’t stifle back a laugh that tried to wriggle its way out of him. Luckily he was able to contain it with the aid of the overwhelming sense of affection that clutched at his chest, his hands giving hers a reassuring squeeze.

“Hey now, no need to frown. I’m more than okay with meeting you halfway,” he spoke lowly, leaning down a ways so that Jane could reach his lips with ease.

Jane’s prankster gambit was begging to be filled up. She could totally pull it off- she knew she could. It would be too easy- and- oh, what the hell. They could cuddle in warm clothes later, and kiss without awkward height differences making her feel silly.

She silently reached out for his sink, grabbing the water hose and dragging it right up toward his face. She pressed down on the spray, and splashed him right in the face, already bursting with laughter.

“Oh sure, laugh it up, Crocker,” Dirk growled playfully, eyes squinted as water dripped down his lashes and bangs.

After allowing her a few seconds of victory, he grabbed the nozzle in her hands and twisted it around to face her, then proceeded to spray her back with a grin.

“HEY!” Jane cried, pushing her hands up, but it was too late. The majority of the water got into her face, and she struggled to take the nozzle from him while her head was turned, laughing up a storm. She squinted and tried to look with one eye through the haze of water, redirecting his grip elsewhere, but it wasn’t working all that well.

Essentially, all the two of them managed to do was spray water all across his cabinets with misdirected streams, their fingers often interrupting the flow of water and sending sprays towards their clothes. By the time Dirk finally decided he had had enough and simply thrown the hose aside and hugged Jane tightly to him, his arms over hers so she couldn’t reach back out for the hose, they were both quite well soaked. In between deep breaths, Dirk was laughing pretty hard, eyes closed and bangs plastered to his forehead.

Jane felt warm and - well, wet and cold, simultaneously. Her chest was bursting with affection as she laughed in his arms, her own pinned down to her sides by his hug. God, he had gorgeous arms- she felt so good in his embraces.

As she came down from her laughing high, she buried her face into his chest, smiling wide. “Oh man,” she sighed, muffled into his skin. Damp and cold, but still skin. “Ohh, man. Okay. Gosh. Haha, I got you good, didn’t I?”

A few goosebumps began to prickle along the skin of his arms, despite how warm his chest felt with Jane pressed against him. “You got me and pretty much the entirety of my kitchen,” he replied, doing a quick once over the wet cabinets as one of his hands gently began to rub at her back. “Guess we should wipedown before we get all pruney, hm?”

“Guess we should.” Jane chuckled a bit, wiggling under his touch and then out from his arms. “I guess I have to borrow some clothes again.” she wrinkled up her nose, and it was clear she felt a little bad. “Sorry, we just have a habit of not being prepared for these sorts of things, I guess.”

“It’s almost as if the universe has been trying to make it a point to get us naked with each other,” Dirk agreed, then seeing her expression, leaned down to give her a quick kiss to her forehead. “No need to fret. I like it when you’re wearing my clothes.”

Realizing that that might be a tad strange to say, Dirk could feel his cheeks start to flush and quickly turned away to walk back to his bedroom. “Go ahead and just pick out whatever as usual, I guess. Toss your clothes in the dryer and such.”

Jane’s face was a deep scarlet as he made his remark, and she shoved him very lightly, but he kissed her forehead and she felt marginally better as he told her not to fret. She began to step away from him, when he admitted that he liked seeing her in his clothes- and she smirked just a little. That was interesting to know.

She laughed a little at his sudden turn from her, and did as he instructed. She grabbed a dark university-school sweater (given ‘ironically’ by his older brother when he decided he would not attend college a couple years ago) and a pair of orange basketball shorts that made it to nearly her mid-calf, and flopped herself onto the couch, nestling in the corner between the arm and the back.

Dirk quickly slipped out of his wet shorts and boxers and put on dry clothing, pausing to wonder whether he should put on a shirt. He couldn’t help it that he greatly enjoyed the feeling of Jane against his bare skin, but finally decided that he had had plenty of that today already, so he went with one of his numerous black tanktops.

With a quick push back of his damp bangs in an attempt to make it not look ten times messier than his usual hairdo, Dirk made his way into the living space. At the sight of Jane simply huddled up on the couch in his clothes, he paused, standstill just a few feet away simply observing. A smile appeared on his face without him being aware of it as he memorized the scene, the realization that his feelings for her were completely reciprocated. For some reason this fact simply boggled his mind, the large plan he had for wooing Jake simply tossed aside in exchange for this new one. The plan of making Jane happy. It just so happened that this plan made Dirk happy, too.

Once he was finally satisfied with his image of her, Dirk went to her, crawling over her so that he practically covered her and then lowered his head to find her lips with his. The touch was almost unreal and his chest was filled with a warm ache. Despite the poignancy of the emotion he was feeling, Dirk still took the kiss slow and gentle, still making sure that this was okay since the change in their relationship had happened rather suddenly. For him, at least. He had, after all, only just realized his feelings a week ago when the attempted assassination had occurred. It could be said that Dirk was even a bit worried that he was suffering from some fucked up Nightingale syndrome. Even with these worries, though, he was happy with what was happening right now, a hand sliding down the back of the couch to slip between the cushion and Jane’s body to steady himself.

Jane gave a soft sound when he nearly covered her whole, something so quiet and happy that she wasn’t sure what to call it at all. She returned the kiss, slow and easy as it was, and lifted just her right hand. She let only her fingertips brush over the middle of his cheek, wanting to keep him close, but not force him to stay if he was uncomfortable or unsure.

After a while of simply pressing his lips to hers, Dirk pulled back only enough to take his mouth off hers and instead rested his forehead against hers. “Sorry,” he grinned apologetically, speaking softly in reference to how he knew Jane could feel his hesitancy. “I just… care about you a lot.”

His eyes were in a constant scan over her face as he hovered over her, feeling her breath on his skin and wondering how she was feeling about this. “How long exactly have you been, uh, aware of your feelings?” Dirk asked, feeling a little bit strange asking, but honestly a bit curious. “If you don’t mind me asking, that is.”

Jane decided not to respond in words, her eyes soft and her smile gentle as she kept her fingers on his cheek and made certain to be delicate. She thought over his question for a moment, and searched his face before speaking, watching his eyes for the faintest twitches of reaction to what she was going to say.

“A little longer than the night you forfeited your plan to tell Jake.” she said softly. “I was aware that I felt something, but I didn’t admit it until after that night.”

Dirk’s expression narrowed in concentration as he did a quick check of just how long ago that had been. When the answer his mind supplied him was around a month, his face became a bit blank, taking into account everything they had done together between then and now. There were a lot of moments of him flaunting himself at her and sharing of sleeping quarters.

At the realization that he had been putting Jane in situations while she had been having to deal with a change in emotion made Dirk drop his head into her shoulder. A long sigh drifted out of him as he muttered out an apology. It seemed like he was always somehow behind on the uptake in this relationship and it drove him a little crazy to find this to be the case once again.

“Oh, shush.” She scolded gently, running her fingers along the back of his neck and smiling at the ceiling he left her to look at, with his head into her shoulder. “I enjoy spending time with you in any capacity, you silly boy. I was happy to simply be your friend.” she was entirely truthful. She had only ever wanted him to be happy. With Jake, it had been different- she wanted him to be happy, but with her. This feeling for Dirk was far more…pure.

At the feeling of Jane’s fingers across his neck and her words of comfort, Dirk slowly lowered himself down to his elbows so that a partial bit of his weight rested against her, but still careful not to suffocate her. Closing his eyes, Dirk inhaled deeply, smelling mostly him, but with the occasional wisp of Jane’s softer scent snaking through.

On his exhale, Dirk pressed his lips against the skin of her neck that was hidden by sweater, once again just feeling the warmth of her skin. “Not happy enough, though,” Dirk muttered against her skin.

“Shhhhhh.” She insisted, pushing down with her hands on his back and smiling wider. “Stop beating yourself up, Strider. You can’t always be ten steps ahead.” she chided. “In many things- most things, you always are. But this time, it wasn’t like that. It’s okay. You don’t need to be perfect.”

She brushed her nose against the side of his head, nuzzling affectionately, to try and comfort him. “I’m happy now. That’s all that matters, right?”

There was a shrug and then a kiss to her neck in response, admitting to the fact that the whole situation was a moot point now. Dirk appreciated her nuzzling, letting himself relax again and absentmindedly placing a few more kisses along her neck. Not wanting to continue holding himself up, Dirk half slid and half rolled around her so that they were now both on their sides. His back faced the outside while Jane was stuck between him and the back of the couch.

Pulling back from the nook of her shoulder, Dirk touched his nose to hers and gave a slight grin. “So what exactly are we doing here?”

“I like what we were doing before,” she smiled, almost mischievously. “Minus the water.” her smile turned into a smirk, and she brushed her lips over his very lightly.

“You’re a good kisser.” She assessed, letting her arm naturally fall around his middle, her fingers feeling the individual vertebrae of his spine, rubbing slow, soft circles in every muscle she could reach without moving her arm from underneath his.

“Naturally,” he grinned, pressing his lips back to hers once more, but this time with a bit more pressure and lingering longer. Feeling Jane lightly massage his back was already beginning to cause Dirk to relax and simply mold his lips to hers, his own hand drifting to her hip.

Jane made a soft noise, very quiet, and she was sure that were he not pressed into her mouth at that moment he’d not have heard it. It was a sweet noise, like a mewl or a croon, something affectionate and longing. She really loved being with him, feeling him, loving him.

Dirk couldn’t help but smile a bit into their kiss when he felt Jane give a small noise that vibrated lightly on his lips. Reassured that she was enjoying herself, he increased the pressure of his kiss by just a little bit and simultaneously opening his mouth a little wider, hoping that she would get the drift of what he wanted.

Jane smiled when he did, flustered and shy, but still as enthusiastic and pleased as ever. She opened up her mouth a little more, felt the smooth warmth of the inside of his lower lip. She eagerly tilted her head to the left a bit to get a better angle, and surprisingly, she was the one to put her tongue into his mouth first.

Despite any surprise he may have felt, Dirk simply moved with her, tilting his own head until he felt that the angle was the best they were going to get in this situation. Jane’s tongue was greeted eagerly with his own, feeling tentatively at first, getting used to the sudden change in taste. It took no time at all for Dirk to decide that he really quite liked the taste of Jane, his heart speeding up a few beats as he moved his mouth a little bit more eagerly against hers. The hand at her hip slid gently behind her and pressed at the small of her back, pressing their bodies closer together.

Jane hummed deep in her throat, starting to get into a rhythm and pattern she was comfortable with. His taste was unique and pleasant- she was quite certain that she could get used to this. His lips were a little chapped, but his teeth were straight and white and smooth, and she felt the roof of his mouth jagged with lines and ridges. With so many textures and sides of him to explore, Jane really could not imagine she’d have a hard time kissing him forever.

Dirk kept out of the way of her investigation of his mouth for the most part, letting himself simply enjoy the feeling of Jane pressed up against him. As their mouths moved in rhythm with one another, Dirk felt overly aware of how different kissing Jane was in comparison with every other relationship he had had previously.

For the most part, kissing anyone else seemed more lustful than what he was experiencing now with Jane. Sure there was a large part of desire that kept him at her lips, begging for that next taste, but… there was also an equal, and maybe even larger part, that wrapped around his heart and made him careful and mindful of everything that Jane did. A sharp edge of caring at every press of the lips that Dirk couldn’t remember ever having had with any of his previous relationships.

At this point, Dirk had unconsciously started moving over Jane and his hand moved from her back, across her hip, down her thigh, and finally to the bend of her knee. Fingers gripping gently, Dirk pulled slowly to guide her leg to wrap around his waist, fitting himself between her legs.

Jane was glad for the new closeness. She felt him start to gently, slowly shift her leg, and when it was properly hitched up over his hip, she broke the kiss only to smile slow and catch her breath just a bit. She lingered near her lips, showing him that this was not a signal for her being done entirely, and slid her fingers up the back of his shirt, to rest on the small of his back, skin-to-skin.

“This is perfect,” she told him in a breathless whisper, eyes half-lidded and sleepy with a floaty, loving feeling. “I thought- I thought I’d want more, but I’m just so happy to be doing this. I could forever.”

An immediate pause went through Dirk when Jane finally broke off the kiss, a part of him slightly worried that he’d done something wrong. Of course, his needless worries were immediately soothed by the feeling of Jane’s hand underneath the cloth of his tanktop. His skin was rather deprived of contact of any kind, so every single touch felt vibrant. The memory of Jane rubbing at his chest came to his mind and Dirk couldn’t help but wish for that feeling again.

“Agreed,” he replied with a similarly sated smile, still aware of her taste on his tongue.

Except that her comment brought to mind just what exactly were the going to end up doing? Or, more accurately, how soon or long would they take another step in their relationship? It wasn’t like they had just met, after all, and although they hadn’t been on any “official” date, they had spent a lot of time in only each other’s company.

“Not that I don’t - want that, still,” she said softly, very obviously forcing herself to stop from blushing. It only half-worked. She wanted to be mature, and honest, and open about this. She didn’t want to be so flustered.

“I guess what I mean is- I’m not in a big hurry? I- I also want to be sure that I’m really what you want. Sure, we’ve- spent a lot of one-on-one time together lately, but, it’s different just friends.” It really wasn’t, if she were being entirely honest. Just some more affectionate possibilities opened up- being able to kiss him when the moment was right, and not having to make up an excuse to hold his hand, take his arm, curl up into his chest. She was just trying to give him time. She wanted to make sure that his sudden feelings-swap was genuine.

She’d always been a bit of a skeptic, after all.

Dirk reined in all of the potential snarky responses he could give her, because, well, this was a bit of an important topic in a relationship. Knowing that honesty was simply the only policy to go by with this topic, Dirk also couldn’t deny that yeah, he did need a bit of time. He was completely aware of his manipulative personality and he’d be damned before he used Jane for anything. Even with this mindset, though, he also knew he was prone to subconscious manipulation and he was beyond paranoid that maybe he _was_ just interested in using Jane’s feelings for him to make it easier to get her to have sex with him.

So he simply kissed her cheek in response, before replying verbally. “Thanks,” he began, a small laugh making its way out. “I bet if you listen closely, you can hear the irony gods laughing it up that a babe has to wait for a Strider to be ready.”

“Yeah, I’m certain people would find me mentally unstable if I were to say I’m giving _you_ space and time.” she teased, giving him an eskimo kiss and then winking. “But I’m happy we’re on the same wavelength.”

Jane was prone to her own manipulative tactics, as well- just not as prone as Dirk. She was a clever girl, and she knew it. She could easily work with Dirk’s emotions to get him in bed, even her friends forgot Jane’s own strengths, and underestimated her sometimes. It was an advantage, frankly. She was going to be careful more for his sake- but also for her own.

“We should eventually tell my Dad…” she sighed. “Although I won’t lie, having the cover of you being only my friend to stay at my house- in my room- well, it’s convenient. But I can’t lie to him consistently.” She had a weak spot for her Dad. She would definitely fudge the truth when necessary- to go out, see the world, explore- but she’d much rather be honest with him if she had the choice.

“I can already feel the imminent ‘I totally fucking knew it’s wafting from both of our guardians,” Dirk chuckled, relaxing back onto his side as he remembered the phone call from his brother and the, uh, rather awkward morning with Jane’s father. “And I’m perfectly fine with whatever you’re comfortable with. As you’ve been frequent to remind me, you are a perfectly capable adult and I’m sure your dad will respect your decisions.

“In the meantime,” he began again after a short pause. “How ‘bout I take you out on an official date?”

The very proposition gave Dirk’s chest a sharp leap and his hand trailed down her arm to find her hand to grab onto, taking her fingers into his palm and using his thumb to rub gently on the back of her hand.

“An Official Date, huh?” Jane grinned, wondering how many Unofficial Dates they’d been on. If those were a thing, they’d been Unofficially Dating for an entire month now. She liked to think that was the case.

“Well, now that you’ve made it a point to be all Official about it, we have to do something unique and fun.” she teased, brushing their noses together playfully and then giving him a few short kisses- but it was obvious she was having a hard time making them short and returning to talking about dates. “No classic Dinner and a Movie stuff. Gotta be original.”

“Don’t sass me, Crocker,” he replied with a grin between their quick kisses, returning every one that Jane landed. “You know damn well what I meant. As for date ideas, you should know me better than to think I’d settle for something so mundane. Especially for you.”

A variant of ideas were already filtering through his mind, ranging from plausible to a bit outlandish. It was while skimming through some of the ideas where he’d need some help that Dirk suddenly came upon a realization, his eyes actually widening slightly.

“Holy shit. How’re we gonna break this to Jake and Roxy?”

“Jake and…Roxy….” Jane started, confident she would find a solution, but nothing came to mind as she spoke. She stared at him in return, and her face soon mirrored his own. “Oh boy.” she mumbled. “I have no idea. I don’t- I think Jake might get confused…and Roxy…Roxy and I haven’t talked about boys since high school, so…”

She chewed her lip. “They- they shouldn’t mind. We hardly all see each other anyway…right?” No, that wasn’t really the case, she was just trying to rationalize so that she wouldn’t panic.

“How about… let’s ask to hang out altogether tomorrow or so? Maybe just break it to them at the same time?” Dirk proposed with a slow rise of his shoulders, just as lost as Jane was on how to approach the problem. “It will definitely catch them off guard… Seeing as how we kept my project on the D.L.”

There was also the slight wondering of how this would affect the dynamic of the group, since the four of them were rather tight knit and none of them had ever paired off before. Well. There was that one point in time where Roxy… Whatever. It was water under the bridge by now. Hopefully. Although Dirk vaguely wondered if Roxy had ever mentioned or at least told part of the story to Jane. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to know.

“Right. We…can ask them tomorrow. My phone is somewhere and I don’t want to move to get it.” Jane smiled a little, and drew little circles around one of the vertebrae she could feel under his tank top.

“Being fully aware of how stupid I’m going to sound- when- when do you think you knew?” she asked softly, slowly approaching the topic of ‘what the hell do you even see in me you silly man’.

Dirk smiled warmly back at her, a sharp thrill of affection running through him at the sight of Jane coupled with the gentle pressure of her fingers on his back. “It’s not stupid at all. It’s only fair for you to inquire, as well,” he whispered back, although a part of him would have preferred she hadn’t. Explaining emotions wasn’t quite his forte and he was a bit afraid of the possible reactions to his answer.

“Honestly… a week ago, when an attempt on your life was made. The thought of you… suddenly gone from my life,” Dirk paused for a moment, simultaneously trying to gather his thoughts into a proper explanation and push through the slight heaviness on his heart at the idea of Jane being killed. “The idea seemed unthinkable, basically. Realized that I couldn’t quite imagine a day where I woke up and you _wouldn’t_ be there. And I- I just wanted to kiss you. Fuck did I want to kiss you... That’s when I knew.”

Jane searched his expression for a moment- and while he wasn’t good with words from emotion, she could see he was being genuine in every syllable, and her heart burst for him. She leaned in and kissed him, sort of hard, really, kind of passionate. His answer had so much more than pleased her, obviously. She was overcome with just- adoration for him. He was sincere, and sweet, and all she could ever hope for in a lover.

Even though the situation completely set up a kiss, Dirk still managed to be surprised by the emotion with which Jane pressed her lips to his, eyebrows rising even with his eyes instinctively closed. Pressing back with a slight smile at the edge of his lips, Dirk moved his mouth against hers, eager to taste her again. His hand found her cheek and cupped her face, steadying her face so that he could angle himself better.

The warmth that Jane brought to his chest was a strong emotion that left Dirk a bit breathless, a strange mixture of safety and protectiveness that he had never quite felt before. Most certainly not with this intensity, either. It stunned him and made him feel more vibrant than ever.

Jane gave a soft sigh into his mouth as she felt him return the kiss with the same enthusiasm after a few seconds of registering her action. She tilted her head into his hand, and she soon moved both hands up the back of his shirt, rubbing his lower back with careful, but firm touches. The fingers of a pianist and the firm kneading palms of a baker came in handy.

A relaxed vibration managed to bubble up and out of his throat at the feeling of Jane rubbing at tense muscles, and Dirk could feel his cheeks flush a bit. Trying to distract from that, he moved his hand more to the back of her head, fingers finding themselves in the short and slightly curly hair of Jane’s head, and Dirk opened his mouth wider again, hoping that this time he would be allowed to explore her this time.

Jane was more than receptive to the movement, and opened her lips willingly, pressing her tongue into his mouth slow and easy, humming low in delight as he touched her hair. She could do this forever- kissing him with slow, lazy lips, and easy tongues, smooth movements and steady hands. She really didn’t know why this wasn’t a thing that could continue forever and never ever have to stop. Who needed nourishment when you had Dirk Strider’s _tongue_ inside your mouth?

Dirk was already lost in the warmth of her mouth, his tongue slow and gentle in its movements as he took his time learning the textures of Jane’s mouth. Her protruding teeth intrigued him, and he ran his tongue over them before moving in further. It was hard to doubt his feelings when they were like this, with Dirk simply wanting more and the passion of simply kissing her growing every second. In a few slow movements, Dirk found himself above Jane once more, finding it easier to apply more pressure and move against her.

Except Jane’s warmth beneath him coupled with his own desire to taste more of her was starting to deepen the heat in his body and the beginning pangs of lust started to form. Dirk wasn’t quite aware of it until he felt his hips lower in the slightest and he finally recognized the feeling of desire starting to flow in his veins. As soon as he did, he pulled away a little hastily, his breathing a bit faster than before they started.

“Sorry,” he breathed, hand leaving her head to rub his eyes and hide his heated face. “I think I, uh, need to cool down a little.” There was a little bit more than just some embarrassment at the admission. There wasn’t anything prominent yet, but he knew if he had continued he would have had more to deal with than just plain embarrassment.

Jane had felt a familiar heat pool in her own abdomen, as he started to shift very slowly. He was on top of her. She was drowning in his scent, his taste, his every touch like electricity shocking her nerve ends to sensitivity where there had been none. She wanted so badly to slide her fingers up his skin and then down, further down, and-

Then he was pulling back and breathing hard and looking so sweet and flustered and apologetic. She definitely didn’t look all that much more composed, and just shook her head. “I - no, it’s okay. I probably- need to cool off, too.” she admitted softly.

Something in her head asked her why the hell they were stopping to cool off if both of them clearly wanted to heat things up. It took her a second or two, but as she pulled herself up from under him and replaced herself upright on the couch, she pulled her hands inside his sweatshirt’s sleeves and knew the answer. She didn’t want to rush things. Even if she knew she wanted it, more than anything, and even if she was sure he wanted it too- that didn’t mean they were ready.

“Maybe we should watch a movie. Take a nap.” she suggested. It was a safe activity that could promote cuddling and kissing while keeping them invested in the movie enough not to want to take things too far so that they could kind of focus on the plot.

As Jane sat back up, Dirk went back to sit on his legs to give her some room. There was, of course, the slight feeling of disappointment of not pushing their situation further, but Dirk knew that rushing into things would simply be a bad idea. Even though they knew each other really well from all their years of friendship, there was still a strange difference between hanging out to just enjoy each other’s company and hanging out for company and also making out. Not to mention that relationships that take it slow were usually more meaningful and more likely to last, at least as far as Dirk had seen.

Still it pleased him that Jane was on the same page as him, her slightly flushed face letting him know that he wasn’t the only one having to restrain themselves. At her suggestion he gave a silent nod and got up from the couch to switch on the tv. “Do you have any idea as to what you want to watch? Or at least a certain genre?” he asked, messing with the remote and bringing up Netflix.

“Ummmm. Well, gosh, aside from the mystery titles I always suggest,” Jane smirked a bit, as she grabbed at the soft insides of his sweatshirt around her arms. “I think maybe it’d be fun to watch something you like this time. It’s all usually really complex plot that I never understand, but hey, I enjoy it. And I enjoy how ‘into’ them you get.” she teased a bit.

Dirk gave a small smile and a shrug in reply to her slight poke at his mannerisms, not bothering to even fake denying the accusation. He still remembered how the others had poked fun at how enamored he had been with Inception when it had come out. “I’d hate to bore you, though,” he spoke while flipping through various movie choices that were offered. “Although if you wouldn’t mind, I sort of missed out on the newest James Bond.”

There were various aspects of the Bond movies that provided Dirk with various mental exercises, such as trying to deduce who was the double agent. Then there were the various political and scientific dilemmas, which most people often just didn’t pay attention to. Hopefully the action sequences would be enough to gather Jane’s interest. Finishing setting up, Dirk walked back over to the couch as the opening sequence started to play.

Seeing Jane fiddle with the inside of his sweatshirt’s sleeves gave Dirk an affectionate smile, unable to find any better word than “adorable” to describe how she looked at that moment. “Would it be unseemly to ask if I may spoon you while we watch?” he asked, moving onto the couch and moving so that if Jane moved to the front of the couch a little he could slide into the space between them.

“Unseemly? Please.” Jane laughed, as she did exactly as he expected, and scooted forward ever-so slightly on the couch. She grabbed up a little throw-blanket from the arm of said couch, and draped it over her legs, patting the empty space for him with her eyes already fixed on the screen in slight distraction. Suits were great things.

“Although, I dunno, you may wanna be careful about how close you get.” she teased, wiggling her eyebrows and hips simultaneously. “You’ve told me that I have quite the ‘plush rump’.”

Settling himself down behind her, Dirk put an arm around her waist and pulled her warm body against his, their height difference easily allowing him to see past her head. When Jane moved against him, though, he gave an amused smile and looked down at her. “You fucking tease,” he breathed, feeling just a little conflicted between enjoying the movement and trying to avoid… certain circumstances.

“You may be careful how you flaunt yourself, though, considering that I think I’m allowed to do this now,” he continued with a smirk, showing just what he meant by “this” by moving his hand to her butt. “Hm. Better than I imagined,” Dirk muttered teasingly, giving the lightly clothed flesh beneath his fingers a light squeeze.

Jane just laughed and swatted at his arm best she could, but it was half-hearted, and she shook her head. “Alright, alright, we’re even.” she murmured, tilting her head up a little and kissing under his chin sweetly.

“Now tell me about how I’m your Bond girl.” she gestured to the television set, and sure enough the suited man was already side-by-side with a skinny brunette in a seductive red dress. It was a joke, obviously, but Jane did like to roleplay.

There was a small leap in his chest when Jane gave him a small kiss on the underside of his chin, a happiness tingling in his nerves that came with these new expressions of affection. Sliding his hand back up, Dirk wrapped his arm around her once again.

At her comment, though, he raised an eyebrow and moved his attention to the screen briefly before looking back down at her. “Really?” he deadpanned the question, but it was simply rhetorical as he continued. “You’re every bit as drop dead gorgeous as you are strongly independent, and we constantly challenge each other with our skill and wits, every confrontation drawing out more and more respect for the other. The sexual tension is just staggering until we break down and fuck as lustfully as we want.”

Dirk smirked at the end of the last sentence, leaning down to nuzzle into her neck, placing a few kisses. “Of course, you’ll turn out to be a double agent and I’ll rue the day I met you while simultaneously feeling disappointed that we won’t be able to get in each other’s pants again.”

Jane was grinning dreamily as he spoke, all the way through, until his very last sentence- where she grew a shade of scarlet along her ears and cheeks, and willed it away even as he nuzzled and kissed her neck. She had to laugh and relax just a bit as he made her a double-agent and she nodded in agreement.

“Yes, that sounds about right, actually.” she mused. “Although I’m certain, in a sequel, you’d come to find that I was actually a rouge vigilante, working alone and breaking all the rules in the name of a morally ambiguous justice that I dictate.”

“That’d be okay with me, though. Since, let’s face it, Bond doesn’t quite follow the rules, anyway,” he added onto her continuation, face still in the crook of her neck. “And then we’d get to get hot and heavy with each other, once again.”

Then, since Dirk never missed a chance to fluster Jane, he lowered his voice for the last sentence and tightened his hold on her by just a fraction, smiling into the skin of her neck.

“Dirk, you’re _really_ transfixed on the idea of sex,” Jane near-squeaked, as she squeezed her eyes shut for a second, and then, quick as a wink, she had turned around in his spooning hold, cheek squished against his as a result of his face being burrowed so tightly into her neck before she rolled over. She pushed her lips against his ear and draw one hand very slowly up his spine, her fingertips tickling each vertebrae.

“I’d be careful if I were you. I may be easily embarrassed, but I’m never afraid to fight back.”

A smile easily found its way onto his face as her cheek pressed against his. As Jane spoke against his ear and touched his back oh so lightly, Dirk felt a sharp thrill run through him.

“Can you really blame me, though? I haven’t really bothered to get any in quite a bit of time and now I have a lovely lass in my arms that I’ve kinda sorta got a thing for and who seems to think I’m hot shit, too.”

As he spoke, his own hand lightly rubbed her back and he gave her own ear a small peck. “Also I hope you’ll forgive me for enjoying these sorts of fights.”

“I forgive you, because I like them, too,” she giggled a little, lifting her head and rubbing their noses together gently, before kissing his lips lightly just once, and rolling back over, wiggling in against him to get comfortable with her back to his chest once more.

“Now. I bet we missed the entire setup. Damnit, your insatiable sex drive will be the end of our movie nights.” she smirked at the television.

Dirk just sort of laughed at her gibe, moving with her to help bring her back against him. “As if you actually need to be caught up in the plotline of this Bond movie,” he scoffed, blowing a bit of air at her slight black curls.

From there, the two of them faded in and out of cuddling and sassing each other, Dirk playfully covering her eyes when the inevitable sex scene came around. The plot of the movie was only vaguely paid attention to and when the credits finally began to roll, neither of them really cared too much and they faded into a bit of an afternoon nap.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr: http://fyeahjanedirk.tumblr.com/post/34429052863/a-dirkjane-rp-turned-long-enough-to-be-a
> 
> The answer, by the way, is yes. They will fuck later. Promise.

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr Post: http://fyeahjanedirk.tumblr.com/post/29847043073/a-dirkjane-rp-turned-long-enough-to-be-a


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